Cuba says ‘respectful’ meeting held with US officials
A Cuban foreign ministry official confirmed in an interview with the state-run Granma newspaper that US officials recently met with their Cuban counterparts in Havana.
Axios reported Friday that a high-level U.S. delegation had visited the island the previous week and that Cuban officials had a small window to agree to U.S.-backed reforms before conditions worsened.
Alejandro Garcia del Toro, who handles U.S. affairs at Cuba’s foreign ministry, said neither side set deadlines or made threatening statements at the meeting and that it was “respectful.”
Garcia del Toro said, “Lifting the energy embargo on the country was one of the top priorities of our delegation.”
U.S. officials have called on the Cuban government to follow long-standing U.S. policy of lifting the Cuban embargo, including providing compensation for assets and property seized after the 1959 revolution, releasing political prisoners and providing greater political freedom, Axios reported.
According to Axios, the US delegation also offered to establish Starlink satellite services in the country.
Garcia del Toro said that the United States is represented by deputy State Department officials, while Cuba is represented “at the deputy secretary of state level.”
Axios had reported that the talks also included Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of former Cuban President Raul Castro, who is 94 and still wields great influence.
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