“We’ve only just beginning formal talks to normalize relations, which take much longer than the first step, which is the restoration of diplomatic relations.” That’s the diagnosis offered by the Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson to members of Congress, first before a Senate subcommittee and then the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives.
“We started a very useful discussion and try to meet again this month,” she said of her upcoming meeting with Cuban diplomats that will take place in Washington.
But the head of the US delegation that traveled to Havana to begin the process of reconciliation between her government and Cuba did not reveal other developments, focusing her words on topics of interest to her audience: democracy, human rights and regime change.
“We are already seeing evidence that our current approach gives us a greater ability to engage with other nations in the hemisphere and the world to promote respect for fundamental freedoms in Cuba,” said Jacobson at both hearings in Congress.
The Secretary announced that “we will continue using funds approved by Congress in support of the exercise of civil and political freedom in Cuba, providing free information flowed and providing humanitarian assistance.”
In her statement, she mentioned a number of common points of collaboration between the Obama administration and the government of Raul Castro. “From mail services to counternarcotics and mitigation of oil spills, we owe our people a diplomatic relationship that allows us a realization of our interests.”
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She said “we are committed to continuing the dialogue and increase cooperation in these kinds of practical matters.”
“The regulatory changes we announced will increase financial resources to support the Cuban people and the emerging private sector,” Jacobson outlined on backing to private actors in the new economy of the Caribbean country, one of the novelties in the policy announced by Obama in December 2014.
The Assistant Secretary of State hailed “the tireless work” of American diplomats in Havana “to promote US interests on the island with activities such as promoting respect for democracy and human rights, including the interaction with civil society of Cuba. ”
In a televised interview, Josefina Vidal, Jacobson´s Cuban counterpart, asked to “change the behavior of American diplomats in Havana” and stop “encouraging, organizing, training, supplying, financing elements within our country that act against the interests of our state.”
Cuba’s President Raul Castro believes that “it appears that the objective is to foster artificial political opposition through economic, political and communications means.”
In her statement, Jacobson hopes that changes in Cuba occur from the inside. “Ultimately, it is the Cuban people who will drive the political and economic reforms.”
