U.S., Cuba to Start New Round of Migration Talks

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 30, 2001

U.S., Cuba to Start New Round of Migration Talks

Cuba and the United States will start a new round of talks on migration in Havana on Monday, the Granma newspaper quoted an official note as saying on Thursday.

Cuba and the United States will start a new round of talks on migration in Havana on Monday, the Granma newspaper quoted an official note as saying on Thursday.

The meeting is aimed at reviewing the implementation of the signed migration agreements between the two countries, who have no diplomatic relations, said the report.

Next week's meeting will be held amid Havana's renewed protests over the deaths of 30 Cubans who shipwrecked on November 17 when they tried to illegally enter the U.S. territory.

Under the migration agreements signed between Washington and Havana in 1994 and ratified a year later, illegal Cuban immigrants found in high seas are to be returned to the Caribbean country immediately, which pledges not to take any measures of reprisal against them.

Havana argued that the rising illegal emigration is encouraged by the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows Cubans who reach American soil to avoid repatriation and eventually apply for legal residency.

Havana has repeatedly denounced the policy, saying that it encourages Cubans to undertake risky ocean journeys in precarious boats or in the hands of traffickers.

Cuba-U.S. migration talks are conducted once every six months, alternatively, in Cuba and in the U.S.

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