For the first time in more than 50 years, people in the United States and Cuba will be able to send letters and packages directly to each other.
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The new effort is starting off with a pilot program to test direct service, and there’s no timetable for the permanent re-establishment of mail links.
Global human rights groups say the government routinely harasses and temporarily jails opposition activists to prevent them from taking part in public demonstrations or attending private meetings.
The U.S. Postal Service has a page on its website dedicated to explaining the Department of Commerce’s regulations and how most shipments go through third-party countries, such as Canada and Mexico.
WASHINGTON-The U.S. and Cuba announced Friday that they have reached an agreement to re-establish direct mail service, a step toward normalizing relations.
The plan will provide for mail flights between the two countries several times a week, rather than routing mail through a third country.
The Cuban delegation was presided over by the Cuban ambassador to the United States, Jose Ramon Cabañas Rodriguez, while heading the U.S. delegation was the executive director of worldwide relations for the U.S. Postal Service, Lea Emerson.
As for mail, direct postal service between the United States and Cuba was suspended in 1963, the year the Kennedy administration tightened the trade embargo on Cuba and made all but a sliver of travel there illegal for American citizens.
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Direct mail talks had been underway even before detente, one of a number of areas of bilateral cooperation including drug interdiction, immigration and environmental protection. Though, everyone involved says that the details are still being worked out.
