A detainee is carried by military police after being interrogated by officials at Camp X-Ray at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002.
IN PHOTO: A detainee is carried by military police after being interrogated byofficials at Camp X-Ray at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002. Reuters/Marc Serota

Cuban President Raul Castro wants the Guantanamo Bay U.S. base returned to Cuba. He demanded that the U.S. should lift the trade embargo that has been in place for half a century as compensation for damages in Cuba before the two countries can resume normal ties.

In a speech before the delegates of a summit for the Community of Latin American and Carribean States, Mr Castro said the U.S. and Cuba are working to re-establish full diplomatic relations. However, he declared that if past problems will not be resolved, the diplomatic efforts “wouldn’t make any sense.”

The Guardian reports that Mr Castro and Mr Obama had decided on Dec 17 that Cuba and the US will be reopening embassies in both countries. Negotiations involving the matter were held in Havana last week. The U.S. president has loosened the trade embargo with measures designed to boost economic ties with Cuba. The new guidelines are expected to help Cubans not to depend on the government for their livelihood.

According to the Obama administration, the removal of barriers to U.S. travel, exports and remittances to Cuba is a strategic move in support of U.S. goal to reform the communist state’s single-party political system. The Cuban president welcomed the range of measures but refused to change its current system.

Mr Castro has emphasised in the summit that normal relations will only resume with U.S. if certain concessions are granted. He said the continued negotiations will not be successful if the U.S. does not return the territory “illegally occupied” by an American naval base. The Cuban leader also demanded an end to broadcast of anti-Castro sentiments in U.S. radio and television and provide just compensation for Cubans.

Meanwhile, former Cuban president Fidel Castro approved of his brother’s statements. He wrote a letter published in a state-run newspaper in Cuba that his country will always defend cooperation with all people including Cuba’s political opponents, BBC News reported. He said that even if he did not trust U.S. policies, he did not want to turn away a peaceful solution to the conflict between two countries.

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