Visiting U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged the world to unite against terrorism in a speech broadcast live across Cuba shortly after the terrorist attacks in Brussels, capital of Belgium.
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Obama and Castro have been careful to highlight their rapprochement during the United States president’s three-day trip, which was to end later Tuesday with a bit of baseball diplomacy – a friendly game between the Cuban national team and Major League’s Tampa Bay Rays, symbolizing the countries’ shared love of the sport.
Although Castro has welcomed Obama’s offer to thaw relations between the two nations, he insists a new relationship with the old enemy does not mean Cuba plans to change its political system, which includes regular elections of lawmakers within the Communist Party.
“In 1959, the year my father came to America, it was illegal for him to marry my mother, who was white, in many American states”.
Mr Ben Rhodes, a senior Obama aide, later insisted Cuba has political prisoners and said the United States government had shared lists of them with Cuba.
“It’s time to lift the embargo”, Obama said of the USA trade embargo against Cuba.
Obama then said that Castro had just been complaining about that earlier in the game. He said it’s a challenge both for Obama and for Cuba. “But I also know that Cuba will always stand out because of the talent, hard work, and pride of the Cuban people”.
Peppering his speech with Spanish phrases, Obama pointed out the two countries’ many similarities, starting with their having been “built in part by slaves from Africa” and their many citizens who can trace their ancestry to slaves or slave owners. “That is the kind of strength and the type of resilience we have to continuously show in the face of these terrorists”.
Mr Obama wraps up his trip with a baseball game.
Organised by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, the forum gave USA businessmen the chance to learn about investment opportunities in Cuba and to network with Cuban companies.
Mr Obama’s meeting with dissidents underscores lingering tensions between the former Cold War foes despite the rapprochement in 2014 that led to Sunday’s one-time unthinkable arrival of Air Force One on Cuban soil.
Mariela Castro speaks at an International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia rally in Las Tunas, Cuba, on May 16, 2015.
“No, I don’t”, she said.
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“I’m a little surprised that the president is going to a baseball game”, Kasich said.
