US, Cuba Tackle Obstacles to Normalizing Relations

U.S. and Cuban officials are meeting in Havana Thursday to talk about normalizing relations.

Roberta Jacobson, the top American diplomat for Latin America, is leading the U.S. delegation. She's the most senior U.S. official to visit Cuba since 1980.

The two countries will discuss how to bring a Cuban ambassador to the United States and how to re-open the American Embassy in Havana.

Cuba is asking that the United States remove it from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Washington says it's considering the possibility.

Cuba is also asking for broad changes to U.S. immigration rules that allow virtually automatic legal residency for any Cuban who touches U.S. soil.  So far the United States has rebuffed that demand.

The Cuban government has long blamed Cold War policy for luring tens of thousands of Cubans every year to make dangerous journeys by land and sea to reach the United States.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the "wet foot, dry foot" approach, which usually protects Cubans from deportation if they reach the America, remains in effect.

He also stressed, however, that Cubans trying to enter illegally would likely be interdicted and returned.

The number of Cuban rafters attempting to reach Florida spiked after President Barack Obama's Dec. 17 announcement on normalizing relations with Cuba. In recent days, those numbers appear to have slowed.