Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro met on Monday for groundbreaking talks on ending the decades-long standoff between the two neighbours. “Give me a list of those political prisoners and I’ll release them”, he said. “They think it’s natural that the two peoples are working together”.
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The blockade, Castro said, is “the most outstanding obstacle to our economic development”. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans can now pursue free enterprise, and restrictions on cellphones and Internet have been eased. Not from the state-controlled media or from anyone else. In a separate post he also indirectly referred to Obama’s visit as “enriching and empowering the dictatorship.” .
Within minutes of his astonishing reply, cyberspace was buzzing with lists of political prisoners and detainees held in Cuba.
Castro, making a statement before the reporters’ questions, said that work toward improving economic conditions in his country was progressing. “It seems to me that Obama wants to do something good before he leaves”.
US President Barack Obama turned from sightseeing to state business on his historic Cuba trip on Monday, pressing President Raul Castro for economic and democratic reforms while hearing complaints about continued US economic sanctions. After a series of meetings, the two leaders planned to address reporters.
Castro appears to be closely and intensely managing what constitutes the most important change in Cuban foreign policy since the Cold War. As Castro’s answer amply put on display, they are completely unprepared to respond to anything besides softballs from a servile press.
“But what we have seen is the reopening of the embassy and although we still have significant differences around human rights and individual liberties inside of Cuba, we felt that coming now would maximize our ability to prompt more change”.
Later he noted that the last U.S. president to come, Calvin Coolidge in 1928, needed three days to make the trip by train and navy ship.
According to the White House, Obama is scheduled to meet with a group of dissidents on Tuesday, but they may not be allowed to meet.
The US broke off diplomatic relations and imposed a trade embargo.
President Barack Obama has signed many guest books during his time in office, but the message he left behind for Cubans is one for the history books.
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The Damas de Blanco-or Ladies in White-is a dissident group composed of the mothers, sisters and partners of jailed dissidents, who demonstrate for the release of their loved ones every Sunday after church services.
