SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica—Cuban President Raúl Castro demanded
Wednesday that the U.S. return the 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.
Mr. 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.”
Mr. 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.
Mr. 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.
The Obama administration says removing barriers to U.S.
travel, remittances and exports to Cuba is a tactical change that supports the
U.S.’ unaltered goal of reforming Cuba’s single-party political system and
centrally planned economy.
Cuba has said it welcomes the measures but has no intention
of changing its system. Without establishing specific conditions, Mr. Castro’s
government has increasingly linked the negotiations with the U.S. to a set of
long-standing demands that include an end to U.S. support for Cuban dissidents
and Cuba’s removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
On Wednesday, Mr. Castro emphasized an even broader list of
Cuban demands, saying that while diplomatic ties may be re-established, normal
relations with the U.S. depend on a series of concessions that appear highly
unlikely in the near future.
The U.S. established the military base in 1903, and the
current Cuban government has been demanding the land’s return since the 1959
revolution that brought it to power. Cuba also wants the U.S. to pay hundreds
of millions of dollars in damages for losses caused by the embargo.
“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,” Mr. Castro said.
He demanded that the U.S. end the transmission of
anti-Castro radio and television broadcasts and deliver “just compensation to
our people for the human and economic damage that they’re suffered.”
The U.S. State Department didn't immediately respond to a
request for comment on Mr. Castro’s remarks.
John Caulfield, who led the U.S. Interests Section in Havana
until last year, said the tone of Cuba’s recent remarks didn’t mean it would be
harder than expected to reach a deal on short-term goals, such as reopening
full embassies in Havana and Washington.
In fact, he said, the comments by Mr. Castro and
high-ranking diplomats may indicate the pressure Cuba’s government is feeling
to strike a deal as Cubans’ hopes for better living conditions rise in the wake
of Obama’s outreach.
“There is this huge expectation of change and this
expectation has been set off by the president’s announcement,” Mr. Caulfield
said.
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