The US and Cuba resumed dialogue on migration issues: it is the first high-level approach since the arrival of Joe Biden

The United States and Cuba resumed on Thursday in Washington, amid mutual suspicion and suspicion, the bilateral dialogue on migration issues, the first high-level dialogue since President Joe Biden's arrival at the White House.

These meetings had been suspended in 2018 during the presidency of Donald Trump (2017-2021), who reversed the historic process of rapprochement with the Caribbean island launched by his predecessor Barack Obama (2009-2017).

In recent days, the United States has symbolically downplayed direct contacts with the dictatorship of Cuba.

“These talks are focused exclusively on migration,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news conference.

Shortly thereafter, Price noted that the US delegation, led by Emily Mendrala, Deputy Undersecretary of State of the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, “highlighted areas of successful migration cooperation,” although “obstacles to meeting the objectives of the agreements were also identified,” without providing further details. .

These immigration talks, an official note added, “are consistent with the interests of the United States in promoting family reunification and promoting greater respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba.”

However, the resumption of dialogue was harshly criticized by the republican opposition.

In this regard, Senator Marco Rubio, representing Florida and of Cuban origin, warned Biden that Cuba's dictatorship “always uses mass migration to blackmail democratic presidents.”

The departure of Cubans, mainly to the United States, has increased markedly in recent months, something that experts link first of all to the serious economic crisis that the island is going through.

Price asserted that this rise “underscores” the “imperative” need to resume this forum, as it offers “an opportunity for important discussions on US commitments to legal, safe and orderly migration.”

According to data from US immigration authorities, between October and February some 47,331 Cuban migrants entered the United States, after a record number of 16,657 reached the border in February alone.

The Cuban delegation was led by Carlos Fernández de Cossío, deputy minister of foreign affairs.

In a Twitter message before traveling to Washington, Cossío remarked that these agreements also include “obligations” that both parties must fulfill to achieve that end, in apparent reference to the United States' commitment to process 20,000 visas a year for Cubans, a common demand of his country's government.

This figure, according to Havana, has not been met since the United States reduced the activity of its embassy on the island following the “health incidents” that were called the “Havana syndrome”, whose origin remains unclear.

Although Biden had promised a change of course from Trump's policies, these promises have not been fulfilled and the estrangement has been maintained.

In fact, in November 2021, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, stated that “circumstances changed” in Cuba policy following the July 11 protests, which were severely suppressed by the regime's security forces.

(With information from EFE)

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