US, Cuba talk about restarting direct mail service

[Jimmy2]

By PAUL HAVEN

HAVANA -- Cuba and the United States sat down for rare talks aimed at re-establishing direct mail service Thursday, a modest step toward cooperation that caps a bitter week of recriminations over the extension of Washington's trade embargo against the communist-run island.

The Cuban government said the two countries discussed technical obstacles to restart the service - suspended in 1963 - like how mail would be transported, methods of payment and postal security.

"We are satisfied with developments in this first meeting," said Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, director of the Foreign Ministry's North American Department, who led Cuba's delegation. She described the talks as "wide-ranging and useful."

The government said both sides agreed on the need to hold more discussions in coming months, but did not give any details on where or when such talks would be held.

The U.S. delegation was led by Bisa Williams, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. It was the first time State Department officials have traveled to Cuba for talks since late 2002, Gloria Berbena, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Interests Section, which Washington maintains here instead of an embassy, told The Associated Press.

Representatives of the U.S. and Cuban postal services were also present.

Direct mail service between the United States and Cuba was suspended in August 1963, the year after Washington imposed its embargo. Letters sent currently between the two nations will arrive - eventually, and with a bit of luck - but must pass through a third country first.

The U.S. first suggested restarting direct service back in 1999, then repeated the offer in 2000, 2002 and 2008. Cuba accepted in May, and formalized its offer to host the talks when representatives of the two nations met on the sidelines of bilateral migration talks held in New York in July.

Berbena said the talks would take all day and be limited to mail service. She said President Barack Obama's administration sees the negotiations "as a potential avenue to improve communication between our countries' peoples."

Those were rare positive sentiments in a week of snubs that have dimmed hopes for a comprehensive breakthrough in relations anytime soon.

On Monday, Obama signed a measure formally extending the 47-year-old embargo for one year. The move was symbolic, since it would take an act of Congress to legally end the sanctions.

But some had hoped the president would withhold his signature - which would have been a powerful sign that it was time for a new debate on bilateral relations.

Two days later, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez demanded that Washington do away with the embargo without waiting for anything in return, saying his country would not make any political or policy concessions - no matter how small - even in the unlikely event the U.S. were to meet those demands and ends sanctions.

U.S. officials have said for months that they would like to see the single-party, communist state accept some political, economic or social changes, but Rodriguez said his country was under no obligation to appease Washington.

The embargo "is unilateral and should be lifted unilaterally," he said.

The sour rhetoric has been a disappointment to those who thought Obama's diplomacy of small steps - of which the direct mail talks are a part - would push Havana to make similar concessions, or that Obama would take a big political risk and signal a willingness to end the embargo.

Robert Pastor, a longtime foreign policy adviser on hemispheric affairs and professor at American University in Washington, said Obama has too much on his plate domestically and internationally to expend political capital on Cuba.

And the island is still constrained by the politics of former leader Fidel Castro, who handed over power to his brother Raul in February 2008, but has continued to release frequent essays on current events.

"There are still signs that Fidel - while playing a backseat role - is the most aggressive backseat driver in the history of the world," Pastor said. "And this introduces some constraints on the foreign policy of Cuba."

Still, he said it was important to keep a dialogue going, if only to prove that progress is possible and will not hurt U.S. interests.

"If you can show, and I think you can, that the Cubans are prepared to deal pragmatically with one issue at a time ... maybe we can get some things done," he said. "Over time that could persuade those who haven't made up their mind that it is time to relate to this country differently."