Cuba calls on US to ease sanctions on eve of migration talks

FILE PHOTO: U.S. and Cuban flags are displayed at the Ernest Hemingway Museum during an event with U.S. Congressman James Mcgovern (not pictured) in Havana, Cuba, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba on Monday said it would insist the U.S. ease sanctions and end special treatment of Cubans illegally entering its territory at high level migration talks slated to begin Tuesday in Washington.

The twice annual meetings resumed in 2022 after being suspended during the U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and amid a record surge of around half a million Cubans illegally entering the United States beginning in 2021, according to U.S. authorities.