'Growing bi-partisan support for US-Cuba thaw'

A leading US senator who was part of a delegation that visited Cuba has said that bi-prtisan support is growing in the US Congress for the renewal of ties between Washington and Havana, Spanish news agency Efe reported on Thursday.

The delegation of US congressmen on Wednesday concluded their visit to Cuba.

The visitors hoped to encourage the rapprochement between the US and Cuba, for which bi-partisan support was growing in the US Congress, said the head of the delegation, Democratic Senator from New Mexico, Tom Udall.

Udall, who is promoting several legislative initiatives to facilitate the thawing process, said he felt "optimistic".

He said a majority of Republicans and Democrats have supported initiatives that include lifting the ban on Americans traveling to the island and eliminating restrictions on trade in agricultural products.

"All these initiatives are gaining support. Today in the Foreign Relations Committee a majority of Democrats and Republicans support dropping the travel ban. We're at a point where the bi-partisan support is building," Udall said.

The congressmen, all Democrats, arrived in Cuba on Saturday on a visit that sought to promote rapprochement by normalising processes for trade, tourism, telecommunications and cultural exchange.

The legislators met officials from the Cuban ministries of foreign affairs, foreign trade and investment, and agriculture.

They also met with workers from the private sector, with artists, and with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, head of the Cuban Catholic Church.

Udall said May 29 was the deadline for the US Congress to object to President Barack Obama's decision to remove Cuba from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, a decision so far uncontested and likely to be acted on in the next few days.

Negotiating teams from both countries held a fourth round of talks in Washington last week on the re-establishment of relations and the opening of embassies.

However, no agreement was reached over differences the parties have on the freedom of movement of diplomatic personnel.

Another outstanding issue in negotiations is the return to Cuba of the territory on which the US maintains its naval base at Guantanamo.

This long standing claim of Cuba's, according to the legislators, "is still not on the table".

Udall added he has always been in favour of closing the jail at the base, and transferring any prisoners from there to maximum security prisons in the US, but that the return of the naval base "is a more complex issue that requires other considerations".