Cuba and the
United States agreed on Monday to jointly prevent, contain and clean up
oil and other toxic spills in the Gulf of Mexico, as they rush to
conclude deals before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
U.S.
Charge d’Affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis, upon signing the agreement, said
it was one of a series of deals to protect the shared marine
environment of the two neighboring countries separated by just 90 miles
(145 km) of water.
Trump
has threatened to scrap a still-fragile detente between the two
countries unless Cuba makes further political and economic concessions.
Cuba and the
United States agreed on Monday to jointly prevent, contain and clean up
oil and other toxic spills in the Gulf of Mexico, as they rush to
conclude deals before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
U.S.
Charge d’Affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis, upon signing the agreement, said
it was one of a series of deals to protect the shared marine
environment of the two neighboring countries separated by just 90 miles
(145 km) of water.
Trump
has threatened to scrap a still-fragile detente between the two
countries unless Cuba makes further political and economic concessions.
More than a dozen cooperation
accords have been inked to date, ranging from postal services and law
enforcement to protecting marine life and fighting drug trafficking.
Negotiations
are ongoing over difficult issues such as U.S. nationalization
compensation claims, Cuba’s demand for embargo reparations, extraditing
fugitives and the return of the Guantanamo Naval Base to Cuba.
Last
week a deal was struck to export small amounts of charcoal to the
United States and in December Google signed an agreement to place
servers on the island to quicken access to its products.
