A U.S. State Department delegation traveled to Havana on April 10 for the first high-level bilateral talks in nearly a decade. During that secret meeting, the administration presented a two-week deadline demanding the release of political prisoners, including dissident artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo. USA Today first reported the deadline; the AP confirmed the meeting's scope and composition. That window expires Friday, April 24, with no Cuban commitment in hand.
Cuba's U.N. Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán told the AP that Havana will not abide by any American "ultimatums," and that detainee matters "are not on the negotiating table." Cuba's deputy director general for U.S. affairs, Alejandro García del Toro, said the delegation included assistant secretaries of state, and characterized the exchange as conducted "respectfully and professionally," denying that any deadlines or threats were issued. The State Department, in a statement confirmed by AP, said the administration remains committed to prisoner releases and warned that "the Cuban regime should stop playing games as direct talks are occurring" and that Havana has "a small window to make a deal."
Separately, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, reportedly attempted to deliver a letter proposing economic terms to the White House via a private courier, but the courier was intercepted in Miami and the letter confiscated, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The episode illustrates what former officials describe, per POLITICO, as significant confusion on both sides about the channel and the terms of any potential deal.
On the congressional oversight front, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) sent a letter to the State Department demanding answers after Jayapal and Jackson were denied a meeting with Chargé d'Affaires Mike Hammer at the U.S. Embassy in Havana during an official congressional delegation. The lawmakers wrote that denying House Foreign Affairs Committee members access to embassy officials "sends a troubling message that the Administration is attempting to block voices that disagree with it." The State Department did not respond to requests for comment on either matter.
Sources: POLITICO | The Associated Press | USA Today | The Wall Street Journal | Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal official press release | NPR
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