CUBA STANDARD — The U.S.-Cuba bilateral commission will be meeting for the second time Nov. 10 in Washington, the Cuban embassy in Washington announced.
The commission, a steering committee in charge of the normalization process, met for the first time Sept. 11 in Havana, setting a preliminary agenda of talks through the end of the year.
The issues of the commission, led by foreign ministry officials, range from an aviation agreement, to mutual claims, to protection of trademarks and patents.
This first stage of negotiations will involve meetings by lower-level officials and experts.
A second stage of the talks will begin a dialogue on human rights, and law enforcement regarding fugitives. A Cuban communiqué also said that there will be talks about both “compensation for human and economic damages to the Cuban people caused” by the U.S. embargo, as well as “for U.S. property nationalized in Cuba.” The topic of protection of trademarks and patents was also discussed at the first steering committee meeting.
A third stage will tackle the most difficult issues, such as the U.S. embargo and the return of the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay.
The Cuban delegation at the first meeting was headed by Josefina Vidal, general director of U.S. affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Relations. The U.S. delegation was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary for South America and Cuba Edward Alex Lee. Lee took over from Roberta Jacobson, who was nominated by President Obama as ambassador to Mexico.
Both Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez are directly involved in the committee.
Kerry told reporters in August that — depending on progress in talks — he hoped to visit Cuba again this winter “for a couple of days”, possibly meeting President Raúl Castro. President Barack Obama is reportedly planning to visit to Cuba early next year.
