Cuba demands US return Guantanamo Bay
January 28, 2015
Cuba on Wednesday demanded that the US put an end to its 50-year-old travel and trade embargo and return Guantanamo Bay to set the stage for an improvement in the relationship between the two countries.
"The main problem has not been resolved: the economic, commercial and financial blockade, which causes huge human and economic damage and is a violation of international rights," Castro said at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Costa Rica.
However, the road to ending the sanctions against Havana would be "long and hard," Castro added, explaining that if these problems weren't resolved, diplomatic rapprochement wouldn't make sense.
"The reestablishment of diplomatic relations is the start of a process of normalizing bilateral relations, but this will not be possible while the blockade still exists, while they don't give back the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo naval base," Castro said at the CELAC summit, adding that the US would have to deliver "just compensation" to his people.
Cuba adamant on keeping political system
Castro's statement on Wednesday was his first since US and Cuban officials met at Havana to discuss reopening embassies and normalizing ties last week. It followed on from US President Barack Obama and Castro's announcement on December 17 that they aimed to bring relations back on track.
Subsequently, the US president used his executive powers to relax trade and travel restrictions, also calling on Congress to put an end to the embargo between the two countries, in place since 1962.
Cuba welcomed the measures, but said it had no intentions of changing its governance system. Several US senators have opposed any engagement with Cuba as long as it remains a one-party state and controls the media.
mg/se (AFP, AP)