Castro demands end of US embargo

Cuban President Raúl Castro took to the floor of the United Nations General Assembly on Monday to demand that the U.S. end its decades-long embargo.

In his maiden speech before the diplomatic gathering in New York, Castro offered faint praise for the historic resumption of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba, and offered plenty of conditions for the further renewal of ties between the two countries.

“Now a long and complex process begins towards the normalization of relations,” he claimed.

{mosads}Not only would Washington need to end its 54-year-old trade embargo, Castro said, but also return the “illegally occupied” territory that houses the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, end radio and television broadcasts into the country and compensate Cubans for “the human and economic damage they still endure.”

Castro will also continue to push the U.N. to condemn the decades-old embargo, he claimed, as it has repeatedly done since 1991. At the most recent vote last October, the nonbinding resolution was supported by 188 of the 193 U.N. member nations.

“While the blockade remains in force, we shall continue introducing the draft resolution,” Castro said.

The Cuban leader was warmly received in his first speech before the U.N. The end of the 15-minute address was greeted with sustained applause and a standing ovation from some delegations, during which he took a bow.

His comments underscore the long road that Washington and Havana have left to walk before achieving a full diplomatic, commercial and cultural exchange, even in the face of the Obama administration’s historic change in policy over the course of the last year.

The Stars and Stripes may fly above the U.S.’s seaside embassy in Havana, but a long list of government restrictions make it difficult for many Americans to travel to or do business in the Caribbean nation just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

The White House has the authority to make multiple unilateral regulatory changes to ease its prohibitions on Cuba, but it would need to depend on an act of Congress to lift the embargo. Given the current political climate, in which many Republicans and some Democrats have criticized the Obama administration’s overtures, that seems all but impossible for the time being. 

Castro is scheduled to meet face-to-face with President Obama on Tuesday.