Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications., called Castro’s United Nations visit, “very significant” and “a symbol we’re in a new era” of U.S.-Cuba relations.
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Castro took the Dais late Monday afternoon for his address – after President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke – and commended the White House for the thawing of relations that have happened so far this year.
More than 160 heads of state and government were said to be attending this month’s United Nations meeting, including Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time. “We will continue to stand up for human rights – but we address these issues through diplomatic relations, and increased commerce, and people-to-people ties”.
“Change won’t come overnight to Cuba, but I’m confident that openness, not coercion, will support the reforms and better the life the Cuban people deserve”.
The presidents of the United States and Cuba are continuing their efforts to establish a friendlier relationship between the two countries.
At a United Nations development summit on Saturday, Mr Castro called the embargo the “main obstacle” to his country’s economic development.
Castro, on the other hand, demanded in his speech on Monday an end to the trade embargo, the return of the land used as the Guantanamo Bay military base and compensation for decades of economic damages.
The administration is working at lightning speed to try and shut down the facility before Obama’s term is finished, and plans exist to move risky detainees to a new location in the USA, though many members of Congress have sworn that they will not allow detainees to step one foot in their states.
The leaders of the two countries may be speaking again, and there’s plenty left to hash out.
Obama and Castro first spoke in December after the secret process to restore diplomatic relations was revealed.
The Cuban president had an nearly negligible difference to stroll in his discourse: keeping up his voice of old-gatekeeper progressive Cuba while not distancing the US legislators whose endorsement is expected to end the ban, a key to his endeavors to modernize Cuba’s economy.
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Obama made sure to button his suit jacket so the photo looked appropriately formal, and Castro joked about how Obama is way taller than he is. Of the 193-nation assembly, past year 188 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, with only the United States and Israel voting against it.
