NOVANEWS
A man rides a homemade bike with an advertising banner in Havana, Cuba, July 13, 2016. | Photo: Reuters
Representatives of Cuba and the United States held a meeting Thursday to discuss mutual economic compensation over assets lost as a result of Washington’s decades-long blockade and the Cuban Revolution, an ongoing thorny issue since both nations restored diplomatic relations in July 2015.
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Washington seeks compensation for its assets seized during the Cuban revolution while Havana expects to receive something in return for the damage caused by the U.S. economic blockade on the island, which is still in force after more than a half-century.
The Cuban delegation reiterated that it is essential to consider the claims of the Cuban people for human and economic damages. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in September 2016 said the total cost of the blockade had been of US$125.9 billion.
Meanwhile, Washington said around 6,000 U.S. citizens and companies have reparation claims on Cuba with a total value of US$1.9 billion assets lost after the victory of the Cuban revolution in 1959.
However, these demands have been adjusted to current prices to reach almost US$8 billion, including an annual interest rate of 6 percent.
Two previous meetings on the same issue proved fruitless. The first was held in Havana in Dec. 2015 and the other in Washington in July 2016, diplomatic sources said.
The new meeting follows President Barack Obama’s decision to end the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, a longstanding immigration policy that extends automatic residency to Cubans arriving in the country without visas.
The moves come with only days left in Obama’s presidency and increasing uncertainty over how a Trump administration might move forward with the U.S. relationship with Cuba.
