• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 01 / 13 / 2011

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By Marc Frank Marc Frank.HAVANA (Reuters) – U.S.-Cuban cooperation has significantly reduced the number of Cuban migrants making dangerous and illegal voyages to the United States, Havana's delegates to bilateral migration talks said on Wednesday.

The talks in Havana were overshadowed by the case of an American contractor jailed in Cuba on suspicion of espionage, and little progress was expected in the negotiations.

But the Cuban delegates released a statement afterward calling the meeting "a fruitful exchange" conducted in an "atmosphere of respect" and said both nations had complied with their commitments under existing migration accords.

"The meeting recognized there has been a significant reduction in risky illegal departures from Cuba to the United States as a result of the efforts carried out by both countries to cope with migrant smuggling and illegal migration," said the delegation headed by Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera, Cuba's deputy foreign minister for foreign affairs.

U.S. Coast Guard data bear that out. The number of Cuban migrants interdicted at sea fell to 2,088 for the year ended October 31, the lowest total in 28 years.

Cuba said it had responded systematically to U.S. requests and provided valuable testimony and evidence to help prosecute migrant smugglers in U.S. courts.

"Cuba reiterated its interest in strengthening bilateral cooperation in this area," the statement said.

The talks focus on ways to prevent mass exoduses of Cubans but also serve as the most important regular contact between the two countries, which do not have formal diplomatic ties.

ARREST OF AMERICAN A STICKING POINT

The meeting was the fourth since U.S. President Barack Obama took office two years ago. The previous talks ended with little agreement in June after U.S. officials protested the jailing of Alan Gross, an American development contractor who was arrested in December 2009.

The Gross case has proved a sticking point in U.S.-Cuban relations, with U.S. diplomats saying his imprisonment is preventing attempts by Washington to improve ties with communist-ruled Cuba.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson led the American delegation.

The talks concern a 1994 agreement to maintain orderly migration and avoid repeats of the 1980 Mariel boatlift and 1994 wave of boat people.

In past meetings, Cuba has asked to send more consular agents to the United States, while the United States has pushed for an end to travel restrictions for diplomats in both countries.

Cuba also wants an end to the U.S. policy of granting Cubans who reach U.S. shores almost automatic residency, which Havana says encourages illegal and dangerous migration.

Rodriguez said after the meeting that legal, safe and orderly migration between the two nations could not occur as long as that policy was in place.

The two countries also held talks recently on resuming direct mail service and cooperation on some international drug trafficking cases.

But Cuba complains that little has changed under the Obama administration, which has maintained economic sanctions and U.S. support for dissidents.

Some Cuban officials say privately that relations are likely to remain strained after the Republican Party won the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

They point to the new head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American lawmaker and fierce critic of President Raul Castro.

(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami; Editing by Peter Cooney)

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110112/pl_nm/us_cuba_usa_migration_2