U.S., Cuba Work On Plans To Upgrade Diplomatic Posts

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The work of upgrading diplomatic posts into full-fledged embassies means meetings, and the latest one between the U.S. and Cuba happened today at the State Department. Establishing the new embassies is one of the first formal steps to trying to thaw a half-century freeze in relations. And this is supposed to be the easy part, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Unlike the historic trip Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson took to Havana just over a month ago, this meeting at the State Department was all business, and Jacobson says she came away feeling optimistic that the U.S. could open an embassy as early as April.

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ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE ROBERTA JACOBSON: I am very encouraged that we will have an embassy functioning in Havana that's able to do it's work in a way that is significantly different and better than our intersection has been able to function up until now.

KELEMEN: The U.S. wants Cuba to lift a cap on the number of U.S. diplomats that can work in the U.S. mission in Havana and also allow U.S. officials to travel throughout the island. For its part, Cuba needs help getting a bank account and wants to get off a U.S. terrorism blacklist, which makes banks wary of doing any business with Havana. Cuba's lead negotiator on this, Josefina Vidal, says she got assurances from the U.S. that they are working on both of these issues.

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JOSEFINA VIDAL: It's a priority for Cuba that we hope is addressed and is solved in the process towards the reestablishment of diplomatic relations.

KELEMEN: Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. is reviewing Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Cuba's biggest critics on Capitol Hill have been writing letters to Kerry urging him not to take Cuba off that list. As Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, writes, Cuba has a long track record of providing sanctuary to terrorists and harboring U.S. fugitives. Josefina Vidal says her country should never have been on that list. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.