Raul Castro: US Must Return Guantanamo for Normal Relations

[bemildred]

Cuban President Raul Castro demanded on Wednesday that the United States return the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, lift the half-century trade embargo on Cuba and compensate his country for damages before the two nations re-establish normal relations.

Castro told a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States that Cuba and the U.S. are working toward full diplomatic relations but "if these problems aren't resolved, this diplomatic rapprochement wouldn't make any sense."

Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Dec. 17 that they would move toward renewing full diplomatic relations by reopening embassies in each other's countries. The two governments held negotiations in Havana last week to discuss both the reopening of embassies and the broader agenda of re-establishing normal relations.

Obama has loosened the trade embargo with a range of measures designed to increase economic ties with Cuba and increase the number of Cubans who don't depend on the communist state for their livelihoods.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/raul-castro-us-return-guantanamo-normal-relations-28554192

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Now, THERE'S an opportunity staring us in the face if I ever saw one.

How 'bout we take Raul up on the deal, reel in whatever Gitmo residents we intend to try, and leave the rest there for the Cubans to deal with.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Go Raul.