Cuban demands end to US embargo before ties can be renewed

BELEN, Costa Rica, Thursday

Cuban President Raul Castro laid out conditions on Thursday to normalise relations with the United States, demanding an end to the US embargo, the return of Guantanamo and Havana’s removal from a terror list.

Mr Castro issued his demands a week after the highest-ranking US delegation to Havana in 35 years and Cuban officials held landmark talks aimed at reopening embassies and renewing ties that broke off in 1961.

Cuba has long blamed the embargo for the communist island’s economic woes, with billboards in the country equating the decades-old economic sanctions to a “genocide.”

Speaking at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Costa Rica, Mr Castro said the “main problem” remains the “blockade” and that the road to ending it would be “long and hard.”

“The establishment of diplomatic relations is the beginning of a process toward the normalization of bilateral relations, but this (normalization) won’t be possible as long as the blockade exists.”

US President Barack Obama called on Congress last week to put an end to the embargo, which was imposed in 1962 and has been a major source of tension between the Cold War-era rivals since then.

Earlier this month, President Obama used his executive powers to ease travel and trade restrictions with Havana, putting a dent on the embargo.

But Castro said that the US leader should do more.

“He could use with resolve his broad executive powers to substantially change the scope of the blockade, even without the Congress decision,” he said.

Members of the 33-nation CELAC backed Castro’s call for the embargo to be lifted. The group, which does not include Washington, was created by the late Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez.