US President Barack Obama pressed Cuba to improve human rights yesterday and clashed verbally with President Raul Castro during a historic visit to the communist-ruled island, while Castro hit back by criticizing the US for "double standards".
The issue of human rights remains the main obstacle to strengthening ties with Cuba despite the thawing of relations that began in December 2014 between the two leaders, Obama said, adding that the "full bloom" of relations can only be achieved when progress is made in that area.
"In the absence of that, I think it will continue to be very irritating," Obama said during a tense at times press conference broadcast by Cuban state television. Castro appeared upset on several occasions when he gave reporters a rare opportunity to ask questions.
Obama, the first US president to visit Cuba in nearly 90 years, is under pressure from critics at home to persuade Castro's government to be more tolerant of political dissent and to further open up the Soviet-style economy. Some opponents of the visit say Obama has already made too many concessions to improve relations without Cuba doing much in return.
At yesterday's press conference, which followed the talks between the two leaders, Castro responded strongly to the pressure regarding human rights violations, saying that the US positions reflect the double standards of a country that itself violates human rights.
He said that there is no country that meets all international standards in that area, and that Cuba is strong in many areas such as health, education and women's equality.
"Let's work to ensure that everyone respects all human rights," he said. Cuba often criticizes the US for racism, violence and prisons at the Guantanamo base in Cuba. When asked by journalists about the imprisonment of political dissidents, Castro asked for a list of the names of those prisoners, suggesting that there are none in Cuba. "Which political prisoners? Give me a name, or names, so that when this meeting is over I can get a list of prisoners. If there are political prisoners among them before night falls, they will be free," he told the journalist.
He offered Cuba's recipe for better relations - saying the two countries could forge much better ties if the US lifted the 54-year-old trade embargo and returned the Guantanamo base to Cuba.
Until recently, Obama's visit would have been unthinkable. It became possible only after secret negotiations that led to an agreement in 2014 on the normalization of relations between the Cold War enemies. Obama's first day in Havana began in the symbolic heart of the Cuban communist system, in Revolution Square, where for decades Raul's brother Fidel Castro spoke at rallies about the evil of American "imperialism".
Obama laid a wreath at the monument to independence hero Jose Marti, while a huge portrait of the legendary revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara was seen in the background. "It is a great honor to pay tribute to José Martí, who gave his life for the independence of his homeland. His passion for freedom and self-determination lives on in the Cuban people today," Obama wrote in the book of impressions.
Marti was a 19th-century poet and writer whose activism helped Cuba win independence from Spain and whose legacy was later embraced by Fidel Castro's revolutionaries as a symbol of anti-imperialism. Obama asked the US Congress to lift the economic embargo on Cuba, but was rejected by the Republican leadership.
Ahead of his meeting with Castro, Obama announced the deal Google had reached with the island. "Google has made a deal for greater Internet access on the island," Obama said in an interview broadcast yesterday for ABC television. Google later said it was exploring opportunities to increase and improve Internet access in Cuba, but said those efforts were in the "early stages."
Tension at the press conference
The White House insisted on a joint press conference between Castro and Obama, which is in line with American practice when visiting abroad, but Castro's government has long resisted it.
Yesterday, until the two leaders appeared before the journalists, it was not known whether they would answer questions.
When the questions began, it was obvious that Obama was more relaxed than Castro. There was tension in the room when Castro refused to answer Cuban journalists who wanted to take advantage of a rare opportunity to ask him questions.
Obama said that his colleague agreed to answer only one question, but skillfully encouraged him to answer two. Castro reluctantly agreed, Reuters reported.
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