US and Cuba hold postal resumption talks
The United States and Cuba will today [17 September] discuss the possible resumption of a long-suspended direct postal service, reports Reuters. The article continues:
Experts say that, like most things between the long-time ideological foes, there are potential obstacles and the outcome is uncertain. But the talks in Havana may serve as a barometer for the future of US-Cuba relations, said Dan Erikson at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington.
“This is a test of whether the US and Cuba can deal with each other at all,” he told Reuters. “If the two sides can’t deliver the mail, then all bets are off in terms of improving other aspects of the relationship.”
The US delegation to the talks will be led by Bisa Williams, assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, and the most senior US official to visit Cuba from President Barack Obama’s administration.
The delegation will include representatives of the US Postal Service.
“These are really exploratory talks and they are very technical in nature … We see it as a potential avenue for improving the communication between our two countries,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington.
“We hope the talks will lead to consistent use of direct mail transportation between the US and Cuba,” he said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez was asked about the meeting in a news conference, but did not respond.
The United States invited Cuba in May to discuss postal services as part of efforts by Obama to improve relations that became hostile soon after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in a 1959 revolution. Castro, now 83, has handed over the presidency to his younger brother Raul Castro, 78.
Obama has taken steps to ease the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the communist-run island and to reopen dialogue that was shut down under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Rodriguez described Obama as “well-intentioned” but chided him for not doing more to end the long-standing US trade sanctions against the island despite his public promise to seek improved ties.
Obama says the embargo will stay in place until Cuba releases political prisoners and improves its human rights — issues Havana says are strictly internal matters.
Washington cut off direct mail service to Cuba in August 1963 as part of its Cold War campaign to undermine Castro’s communist government.
Cubans say they remember fondly when, in the years immediately after the revolution, their relatives in the United States would put small luxuries like chewing gum and new razor blades in the mail, and they would arrive shortly afterwards.
At present, mail between the United States and Cuba must go through third countries and can take as long as two months.
