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Havana - The visit by a
delegation of U.S. lawmakers to Cuba on
Monday is being considered as an improvement
in ties between the two countries.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he and
three U.S. lawmakers had a "magnificent"
conversation. It was believed to be Castro's
first meeting with U.S. officials in several
years, according to an article published on
the website of Cuba's newspaper Juventud Rebelde on Tuesday.
Castro said he was impressed by the U.S.
lawmakers confidence in the U.S. President
Barack Obama, who has said the United States
should change its antagonistic policies
toward Cuba.
The U.S. delegation leader, Democratic
lawmaker Barbara Lee, said she hoped to urge
Obama to reconsider the U.S. position on
Cuba before the Summit of the Americas in
Trinidad and Tobago later this month in
which Latin American leaders are expected to
press for an end to the U.S. embargo on
Cuba.
"I think, personally, and other members of
our delegation believe that it's in the
United States' best interest to have normal
relations with Cuba," Lee told MSNBC news on
her return to Washington.
On Monday, Cuban President Raul Castro held
a four-hour meeting with six members of the
U.S. delegation, which reopened the
dialogue, according to Lee, with the United
States that ended after Fidel Castro took
over the island in 1959.
According to Cuban media, the meeting was
aimed at discussing the development of
bilateral relations as well as economic and
commercial exchanges.
Raul Castro said both parties can conduct
dialogue on any topic with preconditions:
sovereignty equity, national independency
and no interference in internal affairs.
It was Raul Castro's first direct contact
with U.S. lawmakers since he replaced his
elder brother as the country's top leader
last year and also the first visit of U.S.
Congress members to Cuba since Obama became
president.
The United States and Cuba have been hostile
to each other since the Cuban Revolution in
1959. During the presidency of George W.
Bush, the U.S. government maintained its
tough diplomatic stance toward Cuba.
The visit of the Congressional Black Caucus,
which has long championed an end to trade
and travel restrictions imposed on Cuba,
coincided with increased efforts in Congress
and by President Obama to ease some of the
restrictions, according to an Associated
Press (AP) report.
According to AP, Obama has taken steps to
remove restrictions on how often
Cuban-Americans can visit relatives on the
island and how much money they can send to
family members. And lawmakers too, in both
the House and the Senate, recently
introduced legislation to end the ban on
almost all travel by Americans to Cuba.
But there is little suggestion that the
administration is ready to commit to ending
the trade embargo and as well as opposition
in Congress, to even an incremental easing
of restrictions while the Castros remain in
power.
Fidel Castro also said that a change in U.S.
policy would be difficult due to the
opposition, which is "more powerful than the
sincere intentions of Obama."
Washington imposed restrictive trade
measures with Cuba in 1962,but in 2000,
Congress approved exports of food and
medicine to the Caribbean country. Cuban
exports to the United States are still
banned.
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