As trade push mounts, diplomats are talking

[Jimmy2]

Washington talks to Havana as advocates for lifting the embargo vow to keep pushing.

By LESLEY CLARK

WASHINGTON -- Advocates for trade with Cuba on Monday promised to boost efforts to open markets as a senior U.S. State Department official met with Cuba's top diplomat.

Administration officials insisted the meeting between Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for hemispheric affairs, and Jorge Bolaños, the chief of Cuba's Interests Section in Washington, was not part of a push for increased talks with Havana, even though President Barack Obama's recent overtures to Havana were expected to be discussed.

''There's no list prepared that we're going into the meeting with,'' said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. ``We have concerns about Cuban policies. We'll be raising them.

''I'm sure that there will be a discussion of the president's steps that he announced recently,'' Wood said. ``But beyond that, I don't have much of an agenda.''

A senior administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record told The Miami Herald the meeting was ''one of a series'' to discuss issues like pending visa cases, and that the meetings date back to former President George W. Bush.

TRAVEL CHANGES

The meeting comes two weeks after Obama lifted restrictions on remittances and travel to Cuba for those with family on the island. But administration officials said they were waiting to gauge Cuba's reaction. ''We've done our opening initiatives which the president talked about . . .,'' the administration official said. ``We've taken that initial first step and we're waiting for a response from the Cuban government.''

Alberto González Casals, a spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section -- which serves as a de facto embassy -- declined to comment on the meeting, The Associated Press reported.

`OPEN UP MARKETS'

The meeting also came as Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who recently traveled to Cuba and met with Fidel and Raúl Castro, promised at a House hearing ``to do all I can to both open up markets for U.S. commerce . . . while also, at the same time, help bring liberty and prosperity to the Cuban people.''

Among those championing more contact: Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, who pressed Commerce Department officials to support her bid to allow charter flights to Cuba from Tampa International Airport. Commerce Department officials said the matter falls under the jurisidiction of the Department of Homeland Security, but promised after Castor complained of ''passing the buck'' to see that DHS contacts Castor.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce pledged support for lifting trade sanctions against Cuba, arguing that opening trade would ``bring political and economic change to the island.''

But James Cason, a former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, said trade would do little to help Cuban people who have little buying power to purchase U.S. goods.