US, Cuba hold rare meeting at UN, with Haiti focus

US, Cuba hold rare meeting at UN, with Haiti focus
(AFP)

NEW YORK — Cuban and US diplomats have held a rare meeting at the United
Nations that focused on aid efforts for quake-hit Haiti, Cuban Foreign
Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said.

The meeting Wednesday between Rodriguez and Cheryl Mills, chief of staff
to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "focused on rebuilding the
health system of" Haiti, he said in a statement.

The encounter came on the sidelines of the UN donor conference for Haiti.

"Some cooperative activities have taken place between Cuba and the
United States, in the effort to provide emergency care" following the
earthquake, the minister said, adding that similar actions in the future
are expected "to take place on the ground."

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with the communist
island in 1961, but US President Barack Obama has said he would seek to
ease tensions with adversaries like Cuba.

In the days following the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Haiti on
January 12, killing more than 220,000 people and leaving 1.3 million
more homeless, Cuba offered rare cooperation with Washington by letting
aid missions pass through its airspace and opening up its hospitals for
victims.

Over the last year, the US administration has lifted travel and money
transfer restrictions on Cuban-Americans with relatives in Cuba,
although it has urged Havana to free political prisoners and improve
political freedoms.

Last week Obama slammed the government over political and human rights
repression and called for an end to the "clenched fist" policy against
the Cuban people.

Some 50 international donors made a 9.9-billion-dollar pledge at the UN
conference Wednesday in a bid to help Haiti recover from the devastating
earthquake.

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