Obama visits Cuba! First President since 1928 to hit Cuban soil.
HAVANA - President Obama hailed a “new day” in U.S.-Cuban relations and called for greater respect for human rights here on the first full day of his official visit, but his counterpart, Cuban President Raúl Castro, demanded that the United States leave its Guantánamo Bay naval base and end its embargo before relations can be truly normalized.
Standing beside President Obama, Castro welcomed him for what he called a “historic” visit here, and congratulated him for taking steps within his executive power to normalize relations.
But relations will never truly be normal, Castro said after a meeting with Obama here, until the United States leaves Cuban territory and ends the sanctions that he said have done so much damage to the Cuban economy.
"Much more can be done” between the two countries “if the embargo is lifted,” Castro said. “We recognize the position President Obama is in, and the position his government holds against the blockade, and that they have called on Congress to lift it.”
At the same time, he said, there remain “profound differences that will not disappear over our political model, democracy, human rights, social justice, international relations, peace and stability.”
The Cuban people, he said, will not “relinquish what they have gained through great sacrifice.”
Obama began his response by saying that “for more than half a century, the sight of an American president in Havana would have been unimaginable. But this is a new day. Un nuevo dia.”
There is “one overarching goal” to normalization, Obama said, “advancing the interests . . . of both Cubans and Americans. That’s why I’m here.”
“We continue, as President Castro indicated, to have some very serious differences,” including on human rights, Obama said before outlining progress that two have made with new travel, agricultural and business agreements, as well as partnerships on health, education and the environment.
Castro displayed some anger in a question and answer session following their statements. When CNN reporter Jim Acosta, the son of Cuban immigrants, asked about political prisoners, Castro responded: “If there are political prisoners, give me a list, right now. What political prisoners? Give me their names, and if there are political prisoners, they will be free by tonight.”
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