WASHINGTON: Just two days ahead of a second round of talks on restoring diplomatic ties frozen for five decades, Cuba and the United States on Wednesday staked out competing demands to ensure progress.
Cuban officials demanded that as a preliminary step to renewing relations, Washington must remove the island from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
But a US official insisted the two issues should not be linked.
"It would be very easy to restore diplomatic relations if they would not link those two things ... it's a delay of their own making, frankly," the senior State Department official told reporters.
A delegation from Cuba will meet with US counterparts on Friday at the State Department to resume negotiations after a first historic round held in Havana last month.
"This session will focus entirely on the restoration of diplomatic relations," the US official said, adding the session would start at 9:00 am (1400 GMT) and end in the afternoon with press conferences by both sides.
"We will focus on just what we need to do and get resolved to open embassies in each other's countries, or transition our interests sections to embassies," the official said, adding "both sides have an interest in doing that as quickly as possible."
Washington has insisted that American diplomats must be allowed to operate freely and meet with dissidents on the communist-run Caribbean island.
But Havana has remained wary.
And even Cuba's dissident community has had mixed feelings about US President Barack Obama's December agreement with Cuban leader Raul Castro to seek normal ties.
Some have praised the move while others worry too much was conceded to the communist regime without getting much in return.
Some observers believe that diplomatic ties could be restored before a Summit of the Americas in Panama in April, to be attended by Cuba for the first time in the history of the regional gathering. Obama is also due to attend.
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