Raúl Castro seeks to put past behind Cuba and peacefully coexist with US

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/15/raul-castro-cuba-us-barack-obama-diplomatic-ties

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Cuba is prepared to break with the contentious past and peacefully coexist with the US, Cuban president Raúl Castro has said, as the two former adversaries prepare to restore diplomatic ties.

“We are talking about forging a new kind of relationship between both states, different from our entire common history,” Castro, 84, told the Cuban National Assembly, according to official media.

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Cuba and the US will re-establish diplomatic relations on Monday after a 54-year break and reopen embassies in each other’s capitals.

The US and Cuba began secret negotiations on restoring ties in mid-2013, leading to the historic announcement on 17 December 2014, when Castro and US president Barack Obama said they had swapped prisoners and would seek to normalize relations.

The previous deep freeze in US-Cuba ties dated to 1 January 1959, when rebels led by brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro toppled the US-backed government of Fulgencio Batista. The Castros halted the longtime US-friendly business climate in Cuba and drew ever closer to the Soviet Union.

That led to a troubled history including a failed US-organized invasion of Cuba by a force of exiles in 1961 and a thrust to the brink of nuclear war in 1962 over Soviet missiles stationed in Cuba.

With diplomatic ties restored, the two countries separated by 90 miles (145km) of sea will now begin the more difficult and lengthy task of normalizing overall relations.

“The revolutionary government is willing to advance toward the normalization of relations, convinced that both countries can cooperate and coexist in a civilized, mutually beneficial way, while contributing to peace, security, stability and development,” Castro said.

Since taking over as president for his ailing brother in 2008, Raúl Castro, the longtime defense minister, has proven less bellicose toward America than his brother, now 88 and retired.

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Castro said completely normal relations with the US would be impossible as long as Washington maintains its economic embargo against the island.

“We hope that (Obama) continues to use his executive authority to dismantle this policy,” Castro said.

Obama, a Democrat, has eased parts of the US embargo but would need the Republican-controlled Congress to lift it completely.

Castro also said normalization would require the return to Cuban sovereignty of the US naval base at Cuba’s Guantánamo Bay, although American officials have said Guantánamo is not a topic of discussion in talks with Cuba.