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Cuba, US Resume Immigration Talks
Cuba and the United States resumed talks on immigration in Havana on Monday, December 11.
Delegates from the two countries studied an agreement signed in 1994 that allows a regular flow of Cubans to the US.
According to the accord, the U.S. government will grant at least 20,000 visas a year to Cubans wishing to emigrate to the US The US government is also required to return illegal Cuban immigrants captured at sea.
The Cuban government is obliged to persuade Cubans to abandon illegal immigration and arrange meaningful lives for returned immigrants.
Cuba however accused the US government of violating the accord, for maintaining the so-called Cuban Adjustment Law, which grants illegal Cuban immigrants with refuge by giving them labor and residence guarantees.
Although there have not been formal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US, the two nations have held dialogues on immigration issues about once every six months since 1994.
But talks were suspended in mid-2000 as a result of the Elian Gonzalez case. The negotiation also faces challenges caused by the two nations' quarrel on direct phone communications.
Cuba announced it would sever direct telephone links with the US starting December 15, since US phone companies failed to pay a new Cuban-imposed tax.
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