Exclusive: Senior U.S. diplomat, back from Havana, offers insight on Cuba relations

Fresh from two days of historic talks with Cuban diplomats in Havana — the highest-ranking U.S. government official to visit the island in more than three decades — Assistant Secretary of State Roberta S. Jacobson flew to Miami Saturday to meet with members of the Miami Herald Editorial Board along with reporters from both the Herald and el Nuevo Herald at their headquarters in Doral.

Jacobson, a senior diplomat who led the U.S. delegation to the island, answered questions about the progress made in the early stages of negotiations aimed at restoring relations between the two countries — as pledged by President Barack Obama in December.

The two sides met Wednesday and Thursday in Havana and will meet again in the near future in Washington, D.C.

Jacobson’s stop in Miami is significant because South Florida is home to hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles who have fled the Castro brothers’ regime starting in 1959.

To learn what Jacobson has to say, follow us on Twitter at @HeraldOpEd or @MiamiHerald and use the hashtag #cubausa.

This story was originally published January 24, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Exclusive: Senior U.S. diplomat, back from Havana, offers insight on Cuba relations."