Lifting
25 Mile Rule
on Cuban Diplomats
Being Negotiated,
State Dept Tells
ICP
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
WASHINGTON,
March 26 -- As
talks proceed
between Cuba
and the US,
including in
Havana on
telecommunications,
Inner City Press
on March 26
asked State
Department
spokesperson
Jeff Rathke
about US
limitations on
Cuban
diplomats.
From the State
Department
transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
Cuba has
complained
that its
diplomats
accredited to
the UN in New
York are not
allowed to go
more than 25
miles outside
of the city or
from Columbus
Circle.
And I wanted
to know
whether this
restriction is
one of the
things that’s
being
negotiated.
Is it
considered
being
lifted?
Is it – where
does it stand,
and how do –
and what’s the
U.S. – given
that generally
people
accredited to
the UN can
travel freely,
how does the
U.S. justify
it?
MR.
RATHKE:
Well, we’ve
said from the
very start of
our rounds of
talks with the
Cuban
Government
that one of
the topics we
want to
discuss is the
ability of
American
diplomats in
Cuba to move
around freely
and, of
course, the
Cubans have a
similar
concern.
I’m not going
to get into
the state of
those
discussions,
but that’s
clearly a
topic that
we’ve been
talking about
over the last
few rounds.
Rathke went on
to say it is
part of the
negotiations.
Back
on March 13,
after Cuba
came out in
strong defense
of Venezuela
after US
President
Obama's
executive
order, the US
was
disappointed
but not
surprised, a
senior State
Department
official told
reporters on a
background
call.
Inner City
Press wondered
from the UN,
what of the
US'
requirement
that Cuban
diplomats --
and even Cuban
UN
staff members
-- must stay
without 25
miles of
Columbus
Circle in
Manhattan?
Will that
restriction,
which seems
contrary to
the Host
Country
Agreement
between the US
and UN and the
Vienna
Conventions,
be removed?
Currently in
charge of the
US' “interest
section” is Jeffrey
Delaurentis,
formerly with
the US Mission
to the UN.
What does he
say about the
25 mile
restriction?
And how might
he fare in a
nomination
process in the
US Senate?
Watch this
site.
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