U.S. Calls on Cuba to Immediately Release American Detained Last December

Washington and Havana returned to the negotiating table, now set up on the island of Cuba.

To Cuba, the prisoner is still an agent of a foreign power.

Cuba and the United States returned again this Friday to the negotiating table in a session lasting barely half of a day. Washington demanded the immediate release of the American detained here last December, and both governments requested more facilities for their respective diplomatic offices, reported official sources.

As in the previous meeting last July, which took place in New York, delegations were led by the principal deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the State Department, Craig Kelly, and Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister, Dagoberto Rodriguez. The talks are the only formal dialogue on the table between the two governments and the closest point in the search for negotiated solutions, though its modest achievements amount to a few steps in the long journey to ending the conflict of over a half a century.

However, having that table in place contrasts with the climate of hostility that was maintained towards Cuba by former president George W. Bush, who in 2003 suspended talks that were aimed at maintaining the biannual follow-up to migratory agreements of the past decade.

U.S. President Barack Obama took up immigration talks and also agreed to open a second table to negotiate the resumption of direct mail service, suspended between the two nations since 1963.

The press did not have access to the delegations in any of those cases, not even a visual image. The reports available this Friday come from separate statements.

Without outlining the Cuban reaction, the U.S. statement submitted its petition regarding Allan Gross, an employee of a company, who worked for the State Department through an intermediary and was arrested here on December 4th for distribution of satellite communications equipment to private individuals, stated then by President Raúl Castro.

Up until now, it is not publicly known what the charge against Gross is, but Cuban officials have suggested that he be considered something of a spy. The parliamentary leader, Ricardo Alarcon, said the detainee worked for a contracting company, which contracts for U.S. intelligence services, and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that under U.S. law, he would be at least an agent of a foreign power.

Both governments reported their respective requests for improved performances from their sections of interest, the diplomatic offices that rank below the embassy, operating since 1977.

The Cuban statement said that they discussed aspects of a new immigration agreement proposed by Havana last July, but it was unclear whether this is a negotiation about that project. The United States said that they discussed the implementation of existing agreements.

Neither party said whether there were other issues. The parliamentary leader Ricardo Alarcon, an expert on U.S. relations, told reporters that Havana hoped for answers from Washington in order to discuss agreements on combating terrorism and drug trafficking. Both sides said the talks are useful for implementing the migration agreements. Cuba insisted that the Cuban Adjustment Act, which facilitates the entry of Cubans to the United States, prevents legal, safe and orderly migration. Washington demanded that the island accept the return of excludable Cubans, who reside in U.S. territory and have committed crimes.