Democratic Lawmakers Go to Havana, Meet With Cuban President | NEWSRUX

HAVANA (AP) — A delegation of at the least three U.S. lawmakers visited Havana and met with Cuba’s authorities this week, American and Cuban officers confirmed.

Reps. James McGovern (D-MA), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Troy Carter (D-LA) met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, leaders in Cuba’s congress and its overseas minister, the U.S. Embassy in Cuba advised The Related Press on Sunday.

It’s one in all only a handful of such visits to the island in latest a long time. Whereas officers offered few particulars about what was mentioned, Díaz-Canel and Cuba’s Congress tweeted pictures of the conferences.

One photograph reveals Rep. McGovern shaking fingers with the Cuban chief and one other reveals the politicians assembly with different Cuban officers.

“We addressed our variations and subjects of shared curiosity. We affirmed our willingness to enhance bilateral relations,” tweeted Díaz-Canel Saturday, additionally noting he expressed the significance of ending the U.S. authorities’s six-decade commerce embargo on the island.

The assembly comes following quite a few visits in previous months by Biden administration officers to debate migration. The talks mark a gradual easing of tensions, which have been relaxed in the course of the Obama administration and tightened beneath the Trump administration.

Cuba is dealing with the best exodus from the island in a decade, fueled by compounding financial, vitality and political crises.

Previously 12 months, Cuban arrivals to the U.S.-Mexico border have skyrocketed, and a rising variety of boats filled with migrants have been discovered off of Florida’s coast.

In October, Cubans changed Venezuelans because the second most quite a few nationality after Mexicans arriving on the border. U.S. authorities stopped Cubans 28,848 instances, up 10% from the earlier month, the most recent knowledge from U.S. Customs and Border Safety reveals.

It additionally comes weeks earlier than the U.S. plans to renew visa and consular companies on the island, which had been stalled after a collection of well being incidents involving American diplomats in 2017.