Above: Washington

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Officials from Cuba and the United States met on Wednesday to discuss implementation of the 1994 and 1995 US-Cuba migration accords.

The talks, which are held semi-annually, were led by the United States’ Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Alex Lee and Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, director general for US Affairs in Cuba’s Foreign Ministry.

In a statement, the US State Department said the agenda for the talks “reflected longstanding US priorities on US-Cuba migration issues, as well as certain areas where cooperation is in the US national interest, including aviation security, search and rescue at sea, and visa processing.”

The statement from spokesperson Jen Psaki said the US also highlighted issues of ongoing cooperation including “migration, including the exchange of information on the interdiction of undocumented migrants, and related issues.”

The State Department said it also reiterated the government’s call for the release of Alan Gross, who was arrested in Cuba in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years for what the US government said was “facilitating uncensored internet contact between a small, religious community on the island and the rest of the world.”

The talks were last held in Havana in January of this year.