The Cuban Government confirmed this Monday the recent holding on the island of a meeting between representatives of Washington and Havana in the midst of bilateral tensions, the official newspaper Granma reported.
«It is a sensitive matter that, as we have said, we handle with discretion. But I can confirm that a meeting between delegations from Cuba and the United States was recently held here in Cuba,” the deputy director general in charge of the US in the Foreign Ministry, Alejandro García del Toro, told the publication.
The Cuban diplomat added that in the meeting no “deadlines” or “commanding approaches” were established in response to certain information that appeared in the US media that cited a 2-week ultimatum to release certain relevant political prisoners.
The Cuban Government, for its part, insisted to the US delegation on the elimination of the energy blockade that Washington has imposed on the island since January, which has prolonged the extensive blackouts suffered by the island and almost completely paralyzed economic activity.
«The elimination of the energy siege against the country was a top priority issue for our delegation. This act of economic coercion is an unjustified punishment for the entire Cuban population. It is also blackmail on a global scale against sovereign states, which have every right to export fuels to Cuba under the rules that guide free trade,” argued García del Toro.
According to Granma, which does not cite specific names, “deputy secretaries of the State Department” participated in the meeting on the US side, while the Cuban side was represented “at the level of vice minister of Foreign Affairs.”
This recognition by the Cuban side comes days after three American media published, citing anonymous sources, that representatives of both governments met in Havana on April 10.
The information from the US, generally complementary and coincident, indicated that Washington representatives demanded that the Cuban side release relevant political prisoners within two weeks, including dissident artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo.
It would be, they argued, an initial gesture of good will. Then would come a list of demands, essentially deep reforms in search of economic and political opening.
The Axios media outlet stated that Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former President Raúl Castro, who was previously reported to have been key in the beginning of these dialogues, participated in the bilateral meeting.
EFE has asked the Cuban Government and the US embassy in Havana for clarification regarding this meeting, its participants and its content, but for the moment has not received a response.
