President Barack Obama is set for a key meeting with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro in Panama.
Delegations of 35 nations from North, Central and South America are gathering in Panama for what is being billed as a “historic” Summit of the Americas.
Barack Obama and Raul Castro will meet for the first time since a recent thaw in US-Cuba relations.
The two shook hands once before, at Nelson Mandela’s funeral in 2013.
On April 10, Barack Obama and Raul Castro spoke on the phone after arriving in Panama City, according to a Facebook post by Jorge Leganoa, the deputy director of Cuba’s state-run National Information Agency.
He provided no additional details but White House officials confirmed to news agencies the call had taken place.
The White House has been playing coy, saying that while there are no plans for any formal one-to-one meetings between the two presidents, there may well be an opportunity to “meet on the margins”.
Meanwhile, the State Department has recommended Cuba be removed from the US list of countries which sponsor terrorism.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and Secretary of State John Kerry held closed-door discussions in Panama, in the highest level meeting between the two countries in more than half a century.
Meanwhile, the US state department has reportedly recommended that Cuba be removed from its list of states said to sponsor terrorism.
Such a move could pave the way for the two countries re-opening embassies.
President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro are also due to hold their first formal meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Panama over the coming days.
Few details have emerged from the meeting between John Kerry and Bruno Rodriguez. The last comparable high-level meeting was in 1959, when Fidel Castro met then Vice-President Richard Nixon.
Diplomatic ties froze two years later, but last year Barack Obama announced that a “new chapter” in relations would commence.
Meanwhile Senator Ben Cardin, a leading member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US State Department had recommended removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The move was “the result of a months-long technical review” and would be “an important step forward in our efforts to forge a more fruitful relationship with Cuba”, he said.
Cuba is one of four countries still on the US list of countries accused of repeatedly supporting global terrorism; Iran, Sudan and Syria are others.
The communist country was first put on the list in 1982 for offering sanctuary to militant ETA Basque separatists and Colombian Farc rebels.
Removing Cuba from the list could lead to the easing of financial restrictions on Cuba’s access to loans and aid.
If Barack Obama opts to accept the state department’s recommendations, Congress would have 45 days to decide whether to override him.
The president faces fierce critics of his Cuban policy at home, such as from Cuban-American Ted Cruz, who is a Republican presidential candidate.
Correspondents say removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism will throw a stark light on the US’s relations with Venezuela.
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hopes to bring a petition signed by 10 million of his citizens urging Barack Obama to remove an order imposing sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials accused of human rights abuses in an opposition crackdown.
Venezuela has many friends at the summit and other Latin American nations have criticized the order, which calls Caracas a US national security threat.
Barack Obama has tried to reduce tensions with Venezuela ahead of the summit, saying the US did not perceive the country as a threat.
Fidel Castro made his first public appearance in more than a year on Monday, March 30, greeting a delegation of Venezuelans, official media reported on April 4.
The 88-year-old former Cuban appeared to be full of vitality, official media reported.
It was his first known appearance outside his home since Cuba in December agreed to normalize relations with the US, Fidel Castro’s longtime adversary.
Official media showed images of a seated Fidel Castro shaking hands with the visiting Venezuelans through the window of his vehicle, wearing a baseball cap and a windbreaker.
Photo Miami Herald
There was no explanation why five days passed before the encounter was reported in Cuba.
Fidel Castro met at a school with 33 Venezuelans, who were on a solidarity mission to Cuba, for about 90 minutes. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, oil-rich Venezuela has become Communist Cuba’s closest ally and chief benefactor.
The former leader impressed the Venezuelans with a firm, long handshake and a lucid mind, the newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported in a writer’s first-person account.
Fidel Castro relayed “multiple details about life in Venezuela, especially now that this great nation has become the bull’s eye for imperial greed,” the report said, in apparent reference to U.S. sanctions on Venezuela that declared the South American nation a national security threat.
“Fidel is full of vitality,” the report said.
Fidel Castro’s last previous public sighting came on January 8, 2014, at the opening of a Havana cultural center sponsored by one of his favorite Cuban artists, Alexis Leyva, alias Kcho.
In December 2014, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro, Fidel Castro’s younger brother, announced they would re-establish diplomatic ties, opening a new era in the previously turbulent relations that arose after the Castros came to power in 1959.
Fidel Castro stepped down due to illness provisionally in 2006 and definitively in 2008, handing off to his younger brother Raul, now 83. Fidel Castro writes an occasional newspaper column, receives dignitaries at home, and rarely appears in public.
His current role in policy-making is unknown. Many Cubans presume Raul Castro consults with his brother on major decisions, and Fidel Castro’s long silence after the December announcement raised questions about his health and whether he agreed with the rapprochement with the Americans.
According to the White House, the US will not hand back the Guantanamo Bay naval base as part of efforts to improve relations with Cuba.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro included the demand in a speech on January 28, calling also for the US trade embargo to be lifted.
President Barack Obama “does believe that the prison at Guantanamo Bay should be closed down… but not the naval base”, the White House said.
The land on which the base stands was leased to the US by Cuba in 1903.
The Cuban government which came to power in the revolution of 1959 has long demanded its return, saying it is a violation of international law, but the US points to a legal provision making the lease permanent unless it is terminated by mutual agreement.
Photo US Navy
Last month the two countries announced a thaw in relations, agreeing to restore diplomatic ties severed in 1961. Delegations have begun negotiating the re-establishment of embassies.
In his speech on January 28, Raul Castro said: “The re-establishment of diplomatic relations is the start of a process of normalizing bilateral relations.
“But this will not be possible while the blockade still exists, while they don’t give back the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo naval base.”
This condition was rejected by White House spokesman Josh Earnest in remarks to the media on January 29.
Josh Earnest agreed that President Barack Obama was seeking to shut the prison at Guantanamo Bay, as it “only serves as a recruiting tool for al-Qaeda and other extremist organizations”.
“But the naval base is not something that we believe should be closed,” the White House spokesman said.
Cuban leader Raul Castro has demanded the US hand back the Guantanamo Bay military base before relations with Washington are normalized.
In a speech, President Raul Castro also called for the lifting of the US trade embargo and Cuba’s removal from a terror list.
Last month Cuba and the US announced a thaw in relations, agreeing to restore diplomatic ties which were severed in 1961.
High-level talks were held last week.
A Congressional delegation arrived in Havana to begin negotiations aimed at reopening embassies in the two countries’ capitals.
Meanwhile, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro appeared to signal his approval for the political rapprochement.
Cuba’s state-run newspaper Gramma published a letter on January 27 in which he wrote: “We will always defend co-operation and friendship with all the people of the world, including with our political adversaries.”
He wrote that although he did not “trust the policy of the US”, it did not mean he rejected a “peaceful solution to conflicts”.
Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, who succeeded him as president in 2008, made his demands at the summit of Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Costa Rica.
“The reestablishment of diplomatic relations is the start of a process of normalising bilateral relations,” he said.
“But this will not be possible while the blockade still exists, while they don’t give back the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo naval base.”
The land on which the base stands was leased to the US government in 1903 by Cuba’s then-rulers.
US officials have so far not responded to Raul Castro’s remarks.
President Barack Obama has called on Congress to put an end to the trade embargo, which has been in place since 1962.
Earlier this month President Barack Obama also used his executive powers to loosen trade and restrictions on travel to Cuba.
The highest-level US delegation to Cuba in 35 years begins talks aimed at restoring diplomatic ties and eventually normalizing relations between two adversaries who have been locked in Cold War-era hostilities.
The talks in Havana are part of a thaw in relations between the two rivals announced last month in simultaneous speeches by President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.
They come only hours after President Barack Obama urged Congress to seize the chance to end the US trade embargo against Cuba.
The talks will focus on migration and restoring full diplomatic ties.
Both sides are also expected to outline longer-term goals. While Cuba will seek the repeal of Washington’s 53-year-old economic embargo and ask to be removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, the Americans will press the one-party state for greater human rights.
The US delegation will be led by Roberta Jacobson, the top US diplomat for Latin America. The last time someone of her level of seniority visited Cuba was 35 years ago.
The Cubans have not made their agenda public, but talks are expected to focus on migration issues on January 21 and fuller diplomatic relations on January 22.
On January 20, President Barack Obama stressed the importance of the thaw in US-Cuban relations in his State of the Union address to Congress.
He said his decision to engage with Cuba after decades of frozen relations had the potential to “end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere”.
The president also urged Congress to begin work on ending the US trade embargo against Cuba, which has been in force for more than five decades.
“In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you’re doing doesn’t work for 50 years, it’s time to try something new,” he said.
Barack Obama said the shift in his administration’s Cuba policy removed “a phony excuse for restrictions in Cuba; stands up for democratic values; and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people”.
However, President Barack Obama does not have the power to lift the embargo, only Congress can do that and correspondents say many Republicans are still deeply opposed to this.
At least 36 Cuban opposition activists have been released from prison since January 7, according to dissident organizations.
They are believed to be from a list of 53 activists the US requested to be freed as part of efforts to mend links.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the US was pleased with the move.
Cuba and the US announced last month they had agreed to restore diplomatic relations, severed since 1961.
The American government is confident that the Cuban authorities will keep their word and release more political prisoners, said Eric Schultz.
The 53 names put forward by the US have not been disclosed.
Twenty-nine of the activists released since January 7 are from the dissident Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU).
“Our freed prisoners are committed to continue fighting for the democratic Cuba which we all want,” the group’s leader, Jose Daniel Ferrer, said in a statement.
“The UNPACU activists have left prison with more energy, force and motivation than they had when they were jailed.”
Photo Reuters
On January 8, the US announced that Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson would lead a delegation travelling to the capital, Havana, later this month.
These will be the first high level talks since Cuba and the US announced that they were restoring relations.
The US Department of State said the talks – to take place on January 21 and 22 – will focus on migration.
They will also discuss the practicalities of reopening embassies in Washington DC and Havana, said the Department of State.
The rapprochement process was announced by President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on December 17.
Barack Obama’s proposal to restore relations still needs to be approved by Congress, where it faces opposition from many Republicans and anti-Castro lawmakers.
The US says it will continue to push Raul Castro’s government to respect human rights and the freedom of speech.
Senator Marco Rubio, a leading critic of President Barack Obama on the Cuba question, and other Cuban-Americans in Congress have argued that the president’s change of policy could provide legitimacy and money for the Cuban government while it continues to violate human rights.
Last week, the Cuban authorities detained several high-profile dissidents who were planning to stage an open microphone protest in Havana’s Revolution Square.
The US Department of State issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned” by the reports. The activists were eventually released.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has stressed that Havana will not change its political system after recent US move to normalize bilateral relations.
Raul Castro also warned that Cuba faced a “long and difficult struggle” before the US removed its economic embargo.
On December 17, President Barack Obama announced a “new chapter” in US ties with communist-run Cuba.
He said the changes were the “most significant” in US policy towards Cuba in 50 years.
US-Cuba relations have remained frozen since the early 1960s, when the US broke off diplomatic relations and imposed a trade embargo after Cuba’s revolution.
Speaking in the National Assembly in Havana, President Raul Castro said this week’s announcement by Barack Obama removed an “obstacle” in bilateral relations.
Raul Castro, the brother of former leader Fidel Castro, said he was open to discussing a wide range of issues with Washington, but stressed that Cuba would not give up its socialist principles.
“In the same way that we have never demanded that the United States change its political system, we will demand respect for ours.”
Raul Castro added that Cuba had to go through a “long and difficult struggle” before the decades-old US economic embargo would be lifted.
Announcing the normalization of diplomatic and economic ties, President Barack Obama said Washington’s approach towards Cuba was “outdated”.
As part of the deal, US contractor Alan Gross and an unnamed intelligence officer loyal to the US were released from Cuban prison in return for three Cubans held in the US.
Barack Obama also said he wanted to reopen a US embassy in Havana in the coming months.
Congressmen who are against President Barack Obama’s new Cuba policy have threatened to block his efforts to restore diplomatic relations after 50 years of hostility.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio promised on CNN to block the nomination of any US ambassador to Cuba.
Other anti-Castro legislators suggested Congress would removing funding for any normalized ties with the country.
US-Cuban ties have been frozen since the early 1960s – a policy of isolation Barack Obama condemned as a failure.
On December 17, President Barack Obama said it was time for a new approach.
As part of the deal, US contractor Alan Gross, 65, and an unnamed intelligence officer loyal to the US were released from Cuban prison in return for three Cubans held in the US.
The US will now seek to set up an embassy in Cuba, expand US visitors to Cuba, open up banking and increase caps on how much cash Cubans can post to relatives on to the island.
Only Congress has the power to end the full trade embargo, and with many Republicans deeply opposed to such a change, correspondents say it is unlikely to happen soon.
Among those opposed to restoring diplomatic relations was Democratic Senator Robert Menendez who said he was “deeply disappointed”.
“It’s a fallacy to believe that Cuba will reform because an American president opens his hands and the Castro brothers will suddenly unclench their fists.”
Fellow Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, said he would be among those trying to pass legislation to undercut funding for policy changes, including setting up an embassy.
“Normalizing relations with Cuba is a bad idea at a bad time,” tweeted Lindsey Graham, who will become chairman of a committee that determines state department funding in January.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio slammed the deal as “inexplicable”.
“Appeasing the Castro brothers will only cause other tyrants from Caracas to Tehran to Pyongyang to see that they can take advantage of President Obama’s naiveté during his final two years in office,” Marci Rubio said in a statement.
Marco Rubio told CNN on Wednesday he reserved the right “to do everything within the rules of the Senate to prevent that sort of individual from ever even coming up for a vote,” referring to the confirmation process for ambassadors in relation to Cuba.
Their objections mirror the concerns of some dissident Cubans living in the US.
“It is a betrayal. The talks are only going to benefit Cuba,” Carlos Munoz Fontanil said at a protest in Miami’s Calle Ocho.
Meanwhile, other world leaders have welcomed the move.
Leading the praise, Pope Francis sent “warm congratulations” to Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro for overcoming “the difficulties which have marked their recent history”.
The announcement followed more than a year of secret talks in Canada and at the Vatican, directly involving the pontiff.
The EU, which is in the process of normalizing ties with Cuba, described the move as a “historical turning point”, while leaders meeting at a Latin America summit in Argentina broke into applause at the news.
Canadian PM Stephen Harper, whose country never broke off ties with Cuba, welcomed what he called the “overdue development”.
Officials said that Barack Obama and Raul Castro spoke by telephone on December 16 for nearly an hour – the first presidential-level talks between the two nations since Cuba’s 1959 revolution.
In exchange for Alan Gross, who was in poor health, and the unnamed intelligence officer, Washington released three members of the so-called “Cuban Five” who were serving lengthy sentences for espionage.
Alan Gross’s five-year imprisonment had undermined previous attempts to thaw diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The US historic move to end more than 50 years of hostility towards Cuba and restore diplomatic relations has been welcomed by world leaders.
Pope Francis joined leaders from Latin America and Europe in praising the “historic” deal which saw the release of prisoners from both countries.
However, dozens of dissident Cubans oppose the move, which some Republicans have labeled a “retreat” by the US.
US-Cuban ties have been frozen since the early 1960s.
President Barack Obama said the “rigid and outdated policy” of isolating Cuba since then had clearly failed and that it was time for a new approach.
President Raul Castro, meanwhile, has urged the US to ends its trade embargo, which has been in place since the Cuba turned to Communism more than 50 years ago.
Power to lift the embargo, which Raul Castro says has caused “enormous human and economic damage”, lies with the US Congress, and correspondents say many Republicans are still deeply opposed to this.
Photo Getty Images
Leading the praise, Pope Francis sent “warm congratulations” to Barack Obama and Raul Castro for overcoming “the difficulties which have marked their recent history”.
The announcement followed more than a year of secret talks in Canada and at the Vatican, directly involving the pontiff.
The EU, which is in the process of normalizing ties with Cuba, described the move as a “historical turning point”, while leaders meeting at a Latin America summit in Argentina broke into applause at the news.
Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz hailed it as “the beginning of the end of the Cold War in the Americas”.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, whose predecessor Hugo Chavez was a close ally of Fidel Castro, said it was a “moral victory” and “victory for Fidel”.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said increased US engagement in Cuba in the future should “encourage real and lasting reforms for the Cuban people”.
Canadian PM Stephen Harper, whose country never broke off ties with Cuba, welcomed what he called the “overdue development”.
However, the move was not applauded by everyone, with dozens of Cubans living in exile in the US state of Florida protesting after the announcement on December 17.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Marco Rubio slammed the deal as “inexplicable”, adding that it did nothing to address the issues of Cuba’s political system and human rights record.
As part of the deal, US contractor Alan Gross, 65, was released from Cuban prison in return for three Cubans held in the US.
President Barack Obama said the US was looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months.
Officials said that Barack Obama and Fidel Castro spoke by telephone on December 16 for nearly an hour – the first presidential-level talks between the two nations since Cuba’s 1959 revolution.
In exchange for Alan Gross, who was in poor health, and an unnamed American intelligence officer, Washington released three members of the so-called “Cuban Five” who were serving lengthy sentences for espionage.
Alan Gross’s five-year imprisonment had undermined previous attempts to thaw diplomatic relations between the two countries.
An American Chamber of Commerce delegation has begun its first visit to Cuba in 15 years.
Chamber president Thomas Donohue said he was in Cuba to assess the economic changes taking place under President Raul Castro.
The US imposed an embargo on the communist-run island more than 50 years ago following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
Members of the Cuban community in the US have criticized the visit.
American Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue arrived in Cuba to assess the economic changes taking place under President Raul Castro (photo AP)
They accuse Raul Castro’s government of arresting political opponents and violating basic human rights.
Cuban-American Senator Robert Menendez said political opponents continued to be arrested “without justification,” in Cuba.
“Such conditions hardly seem an attractive opportunity for any responsible business leader,” Robert Menendez told the AP news agency.
Members of the trade delegation told AP that they were in Cuba to assess the trade possibilities in a post-embargo scenario.
However, the vast and politically-active Cuban community in the US has been strongly opposed to any change to trade ties with the communist-run island.
Since Fidel Castro handed power to his brother Raul in 2006, Cuba’s communist government has introduced a number of economic reforms.
Cubans are now allowed to own small businesses and to buy and sell cars and properties.
“We are very pleased to be here. We are learning a lot about the changes taking place in Cuba,” said Thomas Donohue.
He said that Cuba is now “fundamentally different in terms of the number of people that are operating under the private system”.
In December, President Raul Castro called for “civilized relations” with the US, saying the two countries should respect their differences.
The US should drop its demand for regime change and allow both sides to continue work on improving relations, Raul Castro said.
The US Chamber of Commerce delegation was welcomed to Havana on Tuesday afternoon by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz.
Cuba’s National Assembly has passed a new foreign investment law on Saturday that aims to make the Communist-run island more attractive to foreign businesses.
The law slashes taxes on profits from 30% to 15% and gives new investors eight years of exemption from paying taxes.
The change is seen as a key part of President Raul Castro’s reform package, aiming to modernize Cuba’s economy.
The government in Havana opened the country to foreign capital in 1995.
Cuba’s National Assembly has passed a new foreign investment law that aims to make the country more attractive to foreign businesses
However, in recent years, Cuba has seen a fall in foreign investment and moderate economic growth. The economy grew by 2.7% in 2013, well below the government’s 7% target.
Cuba’s economy is seen as highly centralized and inefficient, but almost 500,000 Cubans now have licenses to operate small, private businesses.
Presenting the law at a special televised session of the assembly, ministers were at pains to stress that the government was not “selling” the country but taking steps to ensure its prosperity as a socialist state.
The text of the bill has not yet been released but is expected to introduce several incentives to investment when it comes into force in three months’ time:
Investors will be lured into joint ventures with the state and Cuban companies
The process of approving foreign investment will be speeded up
Legal protection will aim to reinforce investors’ confidence in the Communist government
Taxes will be cut to 15% on profits in most areas, although special conditions will be set for investment in natural resources
Tax on nickel and fossil fuel investment could be as high as 50%
The reform is not expected to attract investment from the large Cuban community in the US, under the 50 year-old US economic embargo.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has called for “civilized relations” with the US, saying the two countries should respect their differences.
Raul Castro said the US should drop its demand for regime change on the communist-run island.
That would allow both sides to continue work on improving relations, the president said.
Raul Castro’s comments follow a public handshake with President Barack Obama at the memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela in South Africa earlier this month.
In a rare public speech, Raul Castro said Cuban and American officials had met several times over the last year to discuss practical matters, such as immigration and the re-establishment of a postal service.
That shows that relations can be civilized, Raul Castro explained.
President Raul Castro has called for “civilized relations” with the US
However, he warned: “If we really want to make progress in bilateral relations, we have to learn to respect each other’s differences and get used to living peacefully with them. Otherwise, no. We are ready for another 55 years like the last.”
The US broke off relations with in 1961 after the revolution and maintains an economic embargo against the island.
“We do not ask the United States to change its political and social system, nor do we agree to negotiate over ours,” Raul Castro told legislators at the closing session of the parliament in the capital, Havana.
Raul Castro, 82, took over from his brother, Fidel, in 2006. Fidel Castro had serious health problems and was never able to come back to power. Two years later, he resigned and transferred control permanently to Raul Castro.
He has since carried out a programme of economic reforms, which has helped efforts for relations with the US to be improved.
But critics say the pace of change has been too slow.
“The reform process in Cuba cannot be rushed or it will lead to failure,” Raul Castro warned.
Among the most recent changes announced by Raul Castro is the end of restrictions on private individuals to buy new and second hand cars.
Anyone with enough money will be allowed to order the vehicles from a government dealer.
Until now, only those who were given a previous government authorization were allowed to buy cars in Cuba.
Cuba has decided to ease restrictions on people buying foreign-made new and used cars, according to state media.
Cubans will no longer need government permits to buy modern cars from state sellers.
Until new regulations in 2011, people could only sell cars built before the 1959 revolution.
Private property has been severely restricted on the Communist country since 1959. The changes are part of a shake-up of Cuba’s struggling economy.
Following reforms adopted two years ago, Cubans can buy and sell used cars from each other, but must request authorization from the government to purchase a new vehicle or a second-hand one from state-controlled retailers.
Priority for the permits was given to people “in positions of benefit to the government”, such as doctors and diplomats.
Cuba has decided to ease restrictions on people buying foreign-made new and used cars
But the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, said the Council of Ministers approved new regulations on Wednesday that “eliminate existing mechanisms of approval for the purchase of motor vehicles from the state”.
As a result, the paper said: “The retail sale of new and used motorcycles, cars, vans, small trucks and mini buses for Cubans and foreign residents, companies and diplomats is freed up.”
People who already have permits are expected to be given priority, however. And buyers will still need to purchase vehicles through state retailers.
Cubans and foreigners will not be able to import their own cars.
The new regulations will be published in the official Gazette in the coming days and become law 30 days later, according to Reuters.
The move is part of a series of reforms driven by President Raul Castro aimed at updating the Cuban economic model.
President Raul Castro has championed limited free-market reforms since taking the reins of power from his brother Fidel in 2008.
The White House said President Barack Obama and Cuba’s President Raul Castro’s handshake at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service was unplanned.
White House aide Ben Rhodes told reporters the two exchanged no words more substantive than a greeting.
The Cuban government said the gesture may show the “beginning of the end of the US aggressions”.
The US broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961 as Fidel Castro aligned with the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
On Tuesday, after the handshake, a White House official said the Obama administration still had grave concerns about human rights violations in Cuba, Reuters reported.
Republicans on Capitol Hill were quick to condemn the gesture, with one Republican congresswoman chiding the move during a unrelated hearing on Tuesday.
The White House said President Barack Obama and Cuba’s President Raul Castro’s handshake at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service was unplanned
“Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant,” Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is known for her opposition to the Castro government, told Secretary of State John Kerry.
“Could you please tell the Cuban people living under that repressive regime that, a handshake notwithstanding, the US policy toward the cruel and sadistic Cuban dictatorship has not weakened.”
The last US president to shake a Cuban leader’s hand was President Bill Clinton, who greeted President Fidel Castro, Raul’s brother and predecessor, at a 2000 UN General Assembly meeting.
Under President Barack Obama, the US has eased restrictions on Cuban-Americans travelling to the island and on remittances between family members across the two countries.
But the gradual thaw has been disrupted by the detention in Cuba of a US contractor.
Alan Gross, 64, was arrested four years ago while on a project to provide internet access to Cuba’s small Jewish community.
On the fourth anniversary of his arrest, Alan Gross wrote to Barack Obama to say he feared the US government had “abandoned” him, and asked the US president to intervene personally to help win his release.
Cuban government has ordered the immediate closure of dozens of privately-run cinemas and video-game salons.
The government said the cinemas were never authorized, and that it needed to bring “order” to the management of independent businesses.
Cuba recently relaxed restrictions on the private sector.
But some Cuban entrepreneurs had used restaurant and other types of business licenses to operate backroom movie and entertainment parlors.
“Cinematic exhibition (including 3D rooms) and computer games will cease immediately in whatever kind of private business activity,” read a government announcement in the state-run newspaper Granma.
Cuban government has ordered the immediate closure of dozens of privately-run cinemas and video-game salons
It warned of decisive action against any violations of the law, and defended its decision to instill “discipline” in the private sector, adding that this was not “a step backward”.
“Quite the contrary, we will continue to decidedly advance in the updating of our economic model.”
Cuba’s President Raul Castro, who replaced his brother Fidel in 2008, has relaxed some economic restrictions on the set-up of private businesses in the communist island, where the state still employs 79% of the five million-strong labor force.
Raul Castro opened up retail services to “self employment” in the form of nearly 200 licensed activities such as seamstresses, taxis and small restaurants.
But some residents had used these categories to operate cinema and video-game parlors.
The closure is a huge blow to those entrepreneurial Cubans who invested heavily, especially in 3D cinemas, importing equipment at considerable cost from abroad.
There had been hints this crackdown was coming. Cuban Culture Ministry officials talked of the “banality” and “frivolity” of films on offer, mostly produced in America, and out of line, they complained, with the cultural policy of the revolution.
Correspondents say private cinemas had become a popular alternative to poorly-maintained, state-run movie theatres that shy away from showing Hollywood and other mainstream films.
According to government figures, more than 400,000 people in Cuba are self-employed, of whom around 100,000 work as employees of s mall businesses.
Leaders from Latin America and beyond are gathering in Caracas for the state funeral of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez.
After the funeral, Hugo Chavez’s body will be taken to a military museum to lie in state for another seven days.
More than two million mourners have already filed past his body at a military academy.
Hugo Chavez’s body is to be embalmed and placed on permanent display, Vice-President Nicolas Maduro says.
Later on Friday, Nicolas Maduro is due to be sworn in as acting president. As such, he must call elections within 30 days.
Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela for 14 years, died on Tuesday aged 58 after a long battle with cancer.
More than 30 heads of state are expected to attend Friday’s funeral including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Cuban President Raul Castro and Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has praised Hugo Chavez as a “martyr” and a “wise and revolutionary leader”.
Leaders from Latin America and beyond are gathering in Caracas for the state funeral of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez
Meanwhile, President Sebastian Pinera of Chile arrived at Simon Bolivar airport in Caracas early on Friday, telling reporters that the thoughts of Chile were with Venezuela at a difficult time.
US Congressman Gregory Meeks and former Congressman William Delahunt will represent the United States at the funeral of Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington.
Nicolas Maduro said that Hugo Chavez’s body would be embalmed “like Lenin and Mao Zedong”, and put on display for at least another seven days.
The body will be moved to the Caracas military museum where in 1992 Hugo Chavez – as an army officer – was captured after leading a failed coup.
Nicolas Maduro said the building would be converted into a new “museum of the revolution”.
Hugo Chavez’s supporters want him eventually interred in Venezuela’s national Pantheon alongside Simon Bolivar, the 19th Century independence leader the late president claimed as his political inspiration.
However, Venezuela’s constitution says people can only be admitted to the Pantheon 25 years after their death.
Hugo Chavez named Nicolas Maduro as his preferred successor following the recurrence of his cancer.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has announced he will stand down at the end of his second term in 2018, following his re-election by the National Assembly.
Raul Castro, 81, formally assumed the presidency in 2008 – two years after replacing his ailing brother Fidel.
The Communist assembly, whose members ran for office unopposed, also chose Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez as Raul Castro’s first vice-president.
Miguel Diaz-Canel, 52, is widely seen as Raul Castro’s successor.
On Sunday, 86-year-old Fidel Castro – who was in power for five decades – made a rare public appearance at the opening session of the assembly in the capital Havana.
The Castros have been running Cuba under a one-party system since the 1959 revolution, which ousted the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
Addressing the assembly following his re-election on Sunday, Raul Castro said: “This will be my last term.”
He had earlier called for a two-term limit and age caps for political offices, including the presidency.
But it is the first time he publicly said he would be stepping aside in 2018.
During his years in power, Raul Castro eased some restrictions on personal freedoms by lifting bans on mobile phones and home computers, and abolished the need of citizens to buy expensive exit visas when travelling abroad as tourists.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has announced he will stand down at the end of his second term in 2018, following his re-election by the National Assembly
However, in his speech, he stressed: “I was not chosen to be president to restore capitalism to Cuba. I was elected to defend, maintain and continue to perfect socialism, not destroy it.”
Cuba has struggled economically since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1991 and now relies heavily on the support of the left-wing government of Venezuela.
Havana’s relationship with the US remains hostile – the two countries have no diplomatic relations and a decades-long American economic blockade is still in effect.
Until his promotion, Miguel Diaz-Canel was one of the eight vice-presidents on the council of ministers.
An electrical engineer by training, he rose through the Communist party ranks in the provinces and at one time served as education minister.
He would succeed Raul Castro if he is unable to serve his second full term in office.
Earlier in the day Raul Castro’s arrival, together with Fidel, and was warmly greeted by more than 600 assembly members.
Foreign press was barred from the opening ceremony.
Before Sunday, Fidel Castro was last seen in public earlier this month. Correspondents say he appeared frail and stooped at the time.
Fidel Castro has given up all his official positions, except his post as the assembly’s deputy leader.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has voted in country’s parliamentary elections, the first time the frail ex-leader has been seen in public for several months.
State TV showed Fidel Castro, 86, voting at a polling station where he is said to have spent up to an hour talking to other voters and the media.
He was stooped and spoke with a faint, weak voice.
A crowd surrounded his car, cheering as he was driven off, she adds.
All organized opposition is banned in Cuba and all candidates for elections have been selected by the ruling Communist Party or its affiliated associations.
More than 600 delegates will take their seats in the National Assembly and approve the candidates for Cuba’s key political positions.
With President Raul Castro – Fidel’s younger brother – already 81, Cubans are watching for any sign as to who might follow him.
The choice of vice-presidents and ministers could suggest who is being groomed to carry on the revolution.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has voted in country’s parliamentary elections, the first time the frail ex-leader has been seen in public for several months
Venezuela’s most senior political leaders are in Cuba to visit President Hugo Chavez, who is still in a serious condition after his latest cancer operation in Havana on December 11.
Vice-President Nicolas Maduro and the speaker of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, had a meeting in Havana with Cuban leader Raul Castro.
No details of the meeting have been released.
Hugo Chavez missed his inauguration for a new term on Thursday.
The Supreme Court has ruled that President Hugo Chavez can be sworn in when he recovers and returns to Caracas.
Venezuela’s most senior political leaders are in Cuba to visit President Hugo Chavez, who is still in a serious condition after his latest cancer operation
Venezuela’s opposition has accused the Cuban government of controlling the political situation in the country during President Hugo Chavez’s convalescence.
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez and Attorney-General Cilia Flores were also at the meeting with Raul Castro.
Hugo Chavez, 58, was re-elected for a fourth term on 7 October. He has been in power since 1999.
Cuba has announced it is removing the need for its citizens to obtain exit permits before travelling abroad.
State media said the move, to come into effect on 14 January next year, would “update” migration laws to reflect current and future circumstances.
Cubans currently have to go through a lengthy and expensive process to obtain a permit and dissidents are often denied one, correspondents say.
The move is the latest in a series of reforms under President Raul Castro.
Cubans who have permanent residency on the island will also be allowed to stay abroad for up to 24 months, instead of the current 11, without having to return to renew paperwork.
The exit permit process is hated by most Cubans so this reform, which was much anticipated, will be widely welcomed.
Cuba previously saw people attempting to leave the country as traitors or enemies of the revolution, says our correspondent, but official recognition is growing that many Cubans want to leave for economic reasons and that the country can benefit from the cash and knowledge they bring back with them.
Now all that Cubans will need to leave is a valid passport and a visa.
However, the new law still argues for the need to protect Cuba’s “human capital”, so highly-qualified professionals like doctors, will continue to face extra hurdles to travel.
Government critics are also likely to experience further difficulties, as passport updates can be denied for “reasons of public interest defined by the authorities”.
The restrictions have failed to prevent hundreds of thousands of Cubans emigrating illegally in the past few decades, many of them to the US where they have formed a strongly anti-Havana diaspora.
The US grants automatic residency to anyone who reaches it from Cuba.
For nearly half a century, Cuba was run as a command economy, with almost all activity controlled by the state.
But under President Raul Castro, who took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, it has gradually eased restrictions in many areas of politics, business and society.
The latest reform comes on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war as the US and the Soviet Union nearly went to war over Soviet missiles placed on the island.
But the crisis was resolved diplomatically when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a US promise not to invade Cuba.
However the relationship between Cuba and the US remains hostile – they have no diplomatic relations and an American economic blockade of the era is still in effect.
Cuba has struggled economically since the collapse of the Soviet Union and now relies heavily on the support of the left-wing government of Venezuela.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has made a seemingly impromptu address at a Revolution Day ceremony and said he is willing to hold talks with the US.
Raul Castro, who had not spoken at the event for the past two years, grabbed the microphone to address the crowd in the eastern province of Guantanamo.
The president said he would hold talks with the US, as long as it was “a conversation between equals”.
The two countries have not had diplomatic relations for five decades.
Raul Castro said the offer had already been made through diplomatic channels and that no topic was off limits.
“Any day they want, the table is set,” Raul Castro said.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has made a seemingly impromptu address at a Revolution Day ceremony and said he is willing to hold talks with the US
He said he was prepared to discuss “the problems of democracy, human rights etc. But on equal terms because we are no-one’s colony”.
Cuba would remain independent and free, he said, and nothing like the uprisings in Libya or Syria, backed by foreign forces, would happen in the country.
If the US wanted confrontation, he quipped, then it should be in baseball or some other sport.
“Preferably baseball when sometimes they win, sometimes we do,” he said.
Turning to internal matters, he said that social and economic reforms within Cuba would go on “little by little”.
The annual ceremony marks the 59th anniversary of the failed storming of the Moncada military barracks, often considered the beginning of the revolution led by his brother Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro frequently used Revolution Day addresses to make major policy announcements.
This year’s main celebration began at dawn with music and speeches.
First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura said in a keynote address that Havana would continue efforts to shut down the US naval base there.
“We will continue to fight such a flagrant violation… we will never stop trying to recover that piece of ground,” he said.
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