U.S., Cuba Resume Normalization Talks in Washington

The United States rebuffed a Cuban demand to be taken off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror Friday as they opened a second round of historic talks to restore long severed diplomatic ties.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the terror designation, in place since 1982, would be reviewed separately but was not a matter for negotiation.

"The state sponsored terrorism designation is a separate process, it is not a negotiation," he said.

"And that evaluation will be made appropriately and nothing will be done with respect to the list until the evaluation is completed."

A top Cuban foreign ministry official, Gustavo Machin, had argued before the start of the latest round of talks that the terror designation was in "contradiction" with full diplomatic relations.

The issue has practical as well as symbolic importance to the Cubans because the designation complicates its access to the global banking system.

Friday's talks at the State Department are only the second since President Barack Obama and Cuba's President Fidel Castro surprised the world in December with their decision to restore ties after more than a half century of Cold War enmity.

The hope is that within the coming months, both nations will agree to reopen embassies in each other's capitals and appoint full-fledged ambassadors. Currently they operate through so-called interests sections in Havana and Washington.

U.S. President Barack Obama is due to attend the Summit of the Americas in Panama on April 10-11, which Cuba will also attend for the first time.

 - Differences to overcome - 

Observers say that both nations, long mired in tension stemming from the Cold War, are keen to relaunch full diplomatic relations around that date. 

But as the contretemps over the terror list shows, a common history of distrust and antagonism has left the path strewn with obstacles.

An initial round of talks in Havana last month -- the highest level since U.S.-Cuban relations were severed in 1961 -- broke the ice but ended with little sign of a breakthrough.

Kerry described the talks as technical in nature -- "fairly normal negotiations with respect to movement of diplomats, access, travels, different things."

Washington has insisted that its diplomats and embassy be granted full powers under the Vienna Convention to operate freely, including meeting with Cuban dissidents.

The negotiating teams met at the State Department just before 9:00 am (1400 GMT).

Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, faced Josefina Vidal, the Cuban foreign ministry's director for US affairs, across a long table flanked by their respective delegations.

Neither said anything during the few minutes journalists were allowed into the room to record the encounter. Press conferences were scheduled for later in the day.

- 'Rolling up sleeves' - 

"I certainly think that our presidents and my secretary would be delighted if we could have everything worked out in time for the Summit of the Americas," a senior State Department official told reporters ahead of the talks.

"But that depends a lot on how our counterparts come to the table prepared to get things done and whether they are comfortable with the things we need in order to run an embassy the way we do in other places around the world." 

The talks may be a "little bit disappointingly workman-like in their nature this time. But this is where we roll up our sleeves as diplomats and sit down at the table and make sure that we hammer out all of the details out to get embassies up and running."

Restoring diplomatic ties "doesn't take very long if we get agreement on things," the official added.

Obama has called on the U.S. Congress to lift the decades-old biting economic embargo of Cuba.

But some lawmakers -- as well as parts of the Cuban dissident community -- remain wary of the diplomatic demarche, arguing Obama has failed to secure guarantees about progress on human rights.

One of the aims of the meeting is to set a date for the first ever U.S.-Cuba discussion on human rights.

"It will be the first time that we would be able to sit down with the government directly and have an in-depth conversation about our differing perspectives," the State Department official said.