HAVANA — In an extraordinary news conference Monday afternoon, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro sparred over human rights, the Guantanamo prison and their views of their own countries and the world, even as both hailed Obama’s historic visit here as a new step in normalizing relations.
The event was marked by a jarring juxtaposition of diplomatic formality and public jousting, as Castro responded to questions from American reporters by either ignoring them or dismissing them as misguided.
At one point, he challenged a U.S. journalist to “give me a name” of any alleged political prisoner in Cuba.
Obama seemed to relish the opportunity to display his comfort in discussing the things they agreed on and those they did not. The public exchange was virtually unprecedented in Cuba.
Appearing together after a closed-door meeting on the first full day of Obama’s visit to Cuba — the first by a sitting U.S. president since 1928 — the two leaders began with statements about the dramatic improvement in relations.
Obama began his opening statement by saying that “for more than half a century, the sight of an American president in Havana would have been unimaginable. But this is a new day, un nuevo dia.”
Their work together “benefits not only Cuba and the United States but the entire hemisphere,” Castro said.
Obama responded that “it’s fair to say the U.S. and Cubans are now engaged in more areas than at any time in my lifetime.”
Quoting Castro’s words, he acknowledged that “the road ahead will not be easy. Fortunately, we don’t have to swim with sharks to achieve the goals that you and I have set forth.”
But their differences were clear. Obama said he had spoken “frankly” to Castro about human rights, free expression and democracy in their two-hour meeting.
“Our starting point is that we have two very different systems … and decades of profound differences.” While the United States would continue to speak its mind, he said, it would not seek to impose its system on Cuba.
Castro called on the United States to abandon the territory it occupies with a military base at Guantanamo Bay, on Cuba’s southwestern tip, and to remove the U.S. embargo against Cuba. He said relations would never be fully normal until both were accomplished.
Obama said he was confident that “the embargo’s going to end. When, I can’t be entirely sure. But I believe it will end, and the path that we’re on will continue beyond my administration.”
In the past 15 months, Obama has moved quickly to solidify the U.S. opening to Cuba. In July, diplomatic relations severed in 1961 were re-established and embassies opened in Washington and Havana. But the administration has said it has no intention of abandoning the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay or relinquishing the territory, which it holds under a 1903 lease that can be canceled only by agreement of both parties.
Castro said the two countries have “profound differences that will not disappear overnight … such as our political system, democracy, the exercise of human rights, social justice, international relations and world peace and stability.”
