(EFE).- The deputy director for the United States of the Cuban government, Johana Tablada, perceives “some adjustments” in Washington although not “a change in policy” and says that “I hope” there will be a second “thaw”, something that the island “needs”, although he believes that the ball is in the court of the US president, Joe Biden.
“There are some signs, based on the increase in bilateral dialogue, that, if the Biden government wanted to, important adjustments could be made,” Tablada said in an interview with EFE. “If the US opens a door, it can always find us,” she adds.
In his opinion, “there are plenty of reasons to have a relationship with Cuba that is not only normal, (but) a good relationship. There are many common themes.”
He points out that a “thaw”, like the one that occurred during the presidencies of Barack Obama in the US and Raúl Castro in Cuba, is what his country “needs” and “deserves” to get out of the serious economic crisis – with great scarcity, galloping inflation and high migration – which has dragged on for two years.
The deputy director, present at the migratory round held last week in Havana by the US and Cuba, points out that she observes “some adjustments in the way in which policy is applied” by Washington.
“We will have to see if the Biden government, beyond increasing the conversation with Cuba, is willing to stop being faithful to Trump’s measures”
“In recent months we have seen and registered, and it is obvious and visible, an increase in the official bilateral exchange between the two governments, an increase in the exchange of agencies of the two governments” on a series of issues, from immigration to the environment, going through health and air regulation, he indicates.
However, he does not appreciate a “policy change” in Washington, because “unfortunately” the sanctions – including the latest twist introduced by the former US president, Republican Donald Trump – persist “virtually” unchanged.
“We will have to see if the Biden government, beyond increasing the conversation with Cuba, is willing to stop being faithful to Trump’s measures,” he says.
Tablada assures that Cuba has the “will” to resolve problems with “cooperation” and “dialogue”, but makes its red line clear: “What Cuba is not willing to do is negotiate internal and constitutional issues with a foreign government “.
He affirms that his country has not changed its strategy towards Washington, despite the lowering of its tone, the intensification of contacts and its unusual request for help after Hurricane Ian, which was answered by the US with two million dollars from the Agency United States Fund for International Development (USAID) in humanitarian aid.
Cuba, underscores Tablada, seeks to “find a civilized way for both countries to take advantage” of what unites them, and not what divides them, and the two “can advance for the benefit” of their peoples. Similarly, the US State Department spoke last week of dialogue with Havana to “advance national interests.”
“I am hopeful (that Cuba will be removed from the list), but not because the US government has given us any sign”
In the deputy director’s opinion, the electoral results in the mid-term elections in the US open “a window” for Washington and Havana to move towards the normalization of bilateral relations. In the election, Biden’s Democrats showed unusual strength for the party in the White House and retained the Senate.
“The only way is for us to understand each other, to respect each other, to learn to deal with our differences,” says Tablada, paraphrasing recent statements by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Tablada, who denies that Cuba has used migratory pressure to seat the United States at the negotiating table, maintains that it is the sanctions that are “strangling” his country and promoting emigration, mainly to the United States. In the year fiscal 2021-2022, there were about 225,000 Cubans who arrived irregularly at the southern border of the United States, a record number.
“Vice President Kamala Harris can come to Honduras and say – and I agree with her – that schools must be built so that people do not abandon their town; that hospitals must be built so that people do not have to leave that people’s lives must be improved… And now they are coming to Cuba, where there are schools, hospitals, social security… and with Cuba the opposite is done,” he argues.
He stresses that “US incentives” for migration such as sanctions and the Cuban adjustment law (which grants permanent residence to Cubans when they complete one year in the US) “should not continue in place.” He also stresses that Washington should put an end to the “injustice” of including Havana on the list of sponsors of terrorism.
“I am hopeful (that Cuba will be removed from the list), but not because the US government has given us any sign” in this regard, he says.
On the other hand, he assured that “there was no discussion” on human rights with the United States “no mention of names” in last week’s bilateral migration round and that he is willing to resume dialogue on this issue with Washington as during the “thaw.”
The official stated that the issue of human rights is in her opinion “a completely fictitious pretext” from Washington, as well as an “excuse” to keep the sanctions in place.
“There was no discussion on the issue of human rights. There was no mention of names,” said Tablada, despite the fact that the State Department statement after the meeting cited this issue.
“We have told the US government that we are open to resuming the human rights dialogue that we had during the Obama and Raúl governments,” he said.
Tablada also argued that it is not true that the US sanctions against the Island are maintained due to the repression after the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021.
Tablada also argued that it is not true that the US sanctions against the island are maintained -despite the electoral promises of President Joe Biden- due to the repression after the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021 in Cuba, the largest in sixty years.
He argued that maintaining the sanctions is in fact against human rights, because they harm Cubans on a day-to-day basis, depressing their quality of life, and that the US has good diplomatic relations with countries that are also accused of violating them.
The deputy director also indicated that they have provided “precise information” to Washington about people and drug traffickers “linked to organized crime” and established in Florida (USA), people who participate in human rights violations.
“We have told them and we have given them accurate information that the people who organize human trafficking operations are linked to organized crime and that many boatmen who traffic people are the same ones who are involved in drug trafficking and bring the same thing to Florida. people than drugs,” he said.
Tablada stressed that “there has been bilateral collaboration” in this area and that Havana is willing “to strengthen it.” A meeting was recently held between the maritime border protection bodies of Cuba and the United States.
In the migration round last week, the second of Biden’s term, in addition to Tablada, the Undersecretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Emily Mendrala, and the Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossio, participated.
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