U.S.-CUBA POLICY: As trade push mounts, diplomats are talking

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Tuesday, 04.28.09
U.S.-CUBA POLICY
As trade push mounts, diplomats are talking
Washington talks to Havana as advocates for lifting the embargo vow to keep pushing.

By LESLEY CLARK
[e-mail]

WASHINGTON -- Advocates for trade with Cuba on Monday promised to boost efforts to open markets as a senior U.S. State Department official met with Cuba's top diplomat.

Administration officials insisted the meeting between Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for hemispheric affairs, and Jorge Bolaños, the chief of Cuba's Interests Section in Washington, was not part of a push for increased talks with Havana, even though President Barack Obama's recent overtures to Havana were expected to be discussed.

''There's no list prepared that we're going into the meeting with,'' said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. ``We have concerns about Cuban policies. We'll be raising them.

''I'm sure that there will be a discussion of the president's steps that he announced recently,'' Wood said. ``But beyond that, I don't have much of an agenda.''




Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1021057.html

---

Otto Reich, and Roger Noriega, _Bush's earlier heads of Latin America affairs, and his last Latin
America authority, Thomas Shannon, the State Department's lead diplomat on Latin America

http://i.esmas.com.nyud.net:8090/image/0/000/003/452/cuba_N.jpg

Jorge Bolañosa, chief of Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D. C.