U.S.-CUBA TALKS

BIG HAVANA HURDLES . . . Closed-door talks between U.S. and Cuban negotiators -- which resumed yesterday after an historic accord in September froze the Cuban refugee exodus -- have hit snags right from the get-go, reports TIME correspondent Cathy Booth from Havana. A planned brief first meeting Monday, ostensibly to deliver 20,000 U.S. visas in exchange for Fidel Castro's promised crackdown on the boatlift, ran well over three hours, Booth says. The reason: Cuban efforts to slip a lifting of the three-decade-old U.S. trade embargo into the negotiations. The U.S. is holding firm. Today, Cuban lead negotiator Ricardo Alarcon was expected to try Plan B: claiming U.S. restrictions on fund transfers from the U.S. to Cuba and limits on flights to Havana (now only three weekly) violate the spirit of last month's pact. "If you want orderly and normal immigration, you can't put obstacles in its way," Alarcon said.