MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Senior US diplomat holds high-level talks with Cuban government

A senior US diplomat had high-level talks with the Cuban government in Havana, the State Department said Tuesday. Bisa Williams, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, met this week with Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez during a six-day trip to Cuba, Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley said.

Williams was in Havana to meet with Cuban officials about restoring direct mail service between Cuba and the United States. Crowley said she extended her stay to meet with Cuban officials and members of Cuban civil service about various issues, including ongoing migration talks.

She also visited areas in western Cuba affected by hurricane damage in 2008. Crowley said these are first such talks between the two countries in several years.

“It's getting back to something we used to do regularly,” Crowley said. “We've done this before, and we are starting to do it again

Williams thus became the highest-ranking State Department official to visit Cuba since 2002 in what has been described as another sign of improving relations between the United States and the Communist-ruled Cuba.

The Obama administration has resumed migration talks, which the Bush administration had discontinued in 2004.

”While neither side is saying what was discussed, I believe that the president has authorized these talks because he has a plan for bridging the chasm between Cuba and the United States that has existed for 50 years,” said Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.

However earlier Obama had extended by a year the Trading With the Enemy Act, used to impose a trade embargo against Cuba, and the administration has said it would not ease the embargo until the country adopts democratic reforms.