Cuba, U.S. to talk about resuming direct mail

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Cuba will start talks this month on resuming direct mail service between the two countries for the first time in nearly half a century, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The negotiations, set for Sept. 17, will follow the resumption in July of talks on the legal immigration of Cubans to the U.S., according to the officials. The two sides agreed on the two sets of discussions in late May, a month after President Barack Obama eased travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family members in Cuba.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the talks are not yet completed.

Direct postal service between the U.S. and Cuba was terminated in 1963, and since then, mail between the countries can take weeks to arrive since it must be routed through third countries. Previous attempts to restore the link have failed, and experts believe Cuba’s communist government remains sensitive about what kind of material might be sent to the island from the U.S.

Obama wants to improve relations with Cuba and has taken several steps to gauge the Cuban leaderships’ interest in doing so, including supporting a recent decision by the Organization of American States to revoke Cuba’s 1962 suspension from the 34-country group.

But he has also said the U.S. embargo on the country enacted in 1960 will not be lifted until Cuba enacts democratic and economic reforms.