Jokes between U.S. and Cuban officials? Very unusual. Humor does not usually enter the US-Cuban relationship, but this is funny:
At a New America Foundation reception today, Jorge Bolaños—the Cuban representative in Washington in lieu of a formal ambassador—related a story in which the State Department recently denied a visa to Ricardo Alarcón, the president of Cuba’s National Assembly, three days before he was to come to Washington for a conference. Upon hearing the news, Alarcón asked Bolaños to thank the State Department because it was the first time they had actually given three-days’ notice that his visa would be denied. “This is an improvement. I assure you this is an improvement,” Bolaños joked.
On a more serious note, he commented, “There is a lot of hiding and issues on both sides, but everything is possible once we sit down at the table, and everything is possible if we both respect sovereignty, a sense of equality and sole determination for each country.”
