WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The restoration of U.S.-Cuban diplomatic relations after more than half a century is not likely to be directly tied to the issue of human rights in Cuba, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Thursday.
"I do think that some human rights issues will be talked about in this trip," Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson told reporters, referring to her expected late January travel to Cuba for talks on migration as well as a host of other issues flowing from U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to move toward normalizing relations.
"I do not necessarily think that we are talking about direct human rights conditionality in the restoration of diplomatic relations part," she added. "That is a legal process, if you will, or a diplomatic process, that will be fairly mechanical."
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Susan Heavey)