Fidel Castro the former president of Cuba stated that the government was interested in talks with the US president-elect Barack Obama to resolve the issues related to the 46 year old trade blockade. He further added that the Cuban heads were prepared to hold talks with Obama whichever place he deemed right. This was contrary to the statement given by his brother and current president of Cuba Raul Castro some time back in an interview to The Nation magazine that he would like to meet him at a neutral venue.
Fidel’s overtures was available through his column in the light of Obama’s repeated promises on revoking the Bush administration’s policies that restricted Cuban Americans visiting Cuba and sending cash to their families back home. Nevertheless, he voiced his displeasure in Obama’s choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. That is because she firmly backed her husband and the former US President Bill Clinton, during his term to implement stringent laws on the US trade embargo against Cuba which got exacerbated later by the following administration.
With this, Castro has broken the silence about his interests in engaging with Barack Obama. Though he had considered Obama as an intelligent leader in his earlier essay he did not make any comments on the delay for his opinion on the new US administration. His observations have much significance, since; Cuban officials and he himself were reticent about Barack Obama’s presidential election victory until now. However, he reminded that no carrot and stick approach would help both countries to break the ice.
Robert Gates’ selection as defence secretary has also drawn criticism from Castro in his latest essay calling Gates as a ‘Republican’ rather than a Democrat like the future president. He concluded by saying that he would not call Obama less intelligent, but felt, his actions compelled him to juxtapose Obama with his mediocre adversary John McCain. Analysts feel huge investments required for exploration and extraction of Cuba’s recent oil discovery probably triggered a volte-face.