U.S. to send delegation to Cuba to resume legal dialogue

Joe Biden’s administration plans to send a delegation to Havana this month to resume U.S.-Cuban legal talks that were suspended under President Donald Trump, the State Department said.

A foreign ministry spokesman said topics to be discussed would include counterterrorism issues of U.S. concern.

Trump put Cuba on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism shortly before his term ends in January 2021, and the Biden administration has been dealing with the issue since its inception.

This will be the first meeting of its kind since the legal dialogue, which began in 2015 under President Barack Obama, was halted in 2018 under Trump as he rolled back the historic warming in relations with communist Cuba initiated by his predecessor.

President Joe Biden began undoing some elements of Trump’s policies but kept others, insisting that the Cuban government must improve its human rights record.

“This dialogue enhances U.S. national security by improving international law enforcement coordination, allowing the United States to better protect American citizens and bring transnational criminals to justice,” a State Department official said.

The official added, however, that “this dialogue will not affect the administration’s continued focus on important human rights issues in Cuba.”