By Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. and Cuban officials met in Washington for talks about migration on Thursday as the United States seeks to quell rising numbers of people attempting to cross its southern border, including increasing numbers of Cubans.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the talks, the highest-level formal contact with Havana since President Joe Biden took office last year, were “squarely focused on migration.”
“We’ve seen a significant increase in irregular migration on the part of Cuban migrants coming to the United States – that includes both the overland routes and maritime routes,” Price said.
Emily Mendrala, Washington’s deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, led a U.S. delegation to the talks and Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio led the Cuban delegation, the State Department said in a statement.
The talks focused on ways to address illegal immigration, changing migration trends, deportations and embassy functions, Price added.
Tensions between Washington and Havana over the Cuban government’s crackdown on protests, continuing American sanctions on the Communist-ruled island and other issues have made it difficult for the countries to cooperate on challenges such as immigration.
Thursday’s meeting, first reported by Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/exclusive-us-cuba-hold-high-level-migration-talks-washington-2022-04-18, comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited Panama this week for talks with Western Hemisphere nations, not including Cuba, aimed at stemming refugee and migrant flows from across the Western Hemisphere.
In Panama, Mayorkas said Washington would explore the possibility of resuming migration accords with Cuba that had been discontinued.
Official online outlet Cubadebate said Cuba had insisted migration talks, which Washington ended in 2018, were resumed, and criticized the United States for not meeting past commitments on the number of visas it issues to Cubans.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; additional reporting by Marc Frank and Ted HessonEditing by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell)
