Le maire de New Orleans est en visite à CUBA

Published on Saturday, October 17, 2009

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) -- The mayor of New Orleans flew to Cuba Friday on a mission to study the island's respected disaster preparedness methods in another sign of easing diplomatic relations. The visit comes a day after President Barack Obama promised New Orleans that the government would never repeat the "failure of government" seen after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the jazz city in 2005. Ray Nagin is the first US mayor to make a diplomatic visit to Cuba in 50 years, his office said. Mayor of New Orleans, Louisana, Ray Nagin. AFP PHOTO "We were victims of a tragedy. Now we want to be a model for response and preparedness," said spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett. The State Department gave approval to the mission because Cuba has been recognized internationally as a leader in emergency management, Quiett said. New Orleans is still recovering from Katrina, which smashed levees and swamped 80 percent of the metropolitan area, leaving tens of thousands homeless. The delegation, which includes a top state legislator, will also be meeting with Cuba's Ministry of Exterior Relations and the Ministry of Culture before returning on Thursday. Obama has said he would like a more normal relationship with Cuba but has not set out a specific strategy for attaining that goal. Since he took office, the United States has ended Bush-era sanctions to allow Cuban-Americans to visit their homeland whenever they want and send home unlimited remittances. In July, the two countries officially restarted a dialogue on migration issues which had been suspended since 2003 and talks are also underway aimed at restarting bilateral mail service which was cut off in 1963. But the Obama administration has said it will not, for now, seek to end the embargo, instead urging Havana to show progress on human rights.