Raul Castro Meets with U.S. Lawmakers
(HAVANA) — President Raul Castro met with six visiting members of the Congressional Black Caucus for more than four hours, his first face-to-face discussions with U.S. leaders since he became Cuba's president last year.
"We talked about all the issues necessary to normal relations between our two countries," said California Democrat Barbara Lee. "It was a constructive dialogue."
She said the delegation would report back on the talks to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and would also prepare a detailed look at everyday life in Cuba for President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Read "Changing U.S.-Cuba Policy.")
Castro, who holds the rank of four-star army general, wore a business suit instead of his trademark olive-green fatigues for the closed-door meeting that ended around midnight. "I'm convinced Raul Castro wants a normal relationship with the United States," Lee told The Associated Press after the meeting. "He's serious."
Delegation members said they discussed topics as such as increased U.S.-Cuba trade and better cooperation in combating drug and human trafficking — but "we did not talk about specifics," Lee said during a Tuesday news conference. She ducked questions about why the delegation failed to meet with any Cuban dissidents during the trip that was due to end later in the day.
Illinois Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush said he found Cuba's president "to be just the opposite of how he's being portrayed in the media."
"I think what really surprised me, but also endeared to him was his keen sense of humor, his sense of history and his basic human qualities," Rush said, adding that at times, the meeting's participants chatted "like old family members."
The Cuban government issued a statement calling the encounter "a broad exchange of ideas on many topics, with emphasis on the future evolution of bilateral relations and economic ties after the arrival of a new U.S. administration."
U.S. Congressional delegations visiting this country are fairly common, but the late-night meeting was the first time Castro, 77, has sat down with U.S. officials since he succeeded his ailing brother Fidel as president last February. It comes amid speculation that Washington is ready to loosen some facets of its 47-year-old trade embargo.
Fidel Castro wrote Monday that Cuba is not afraid to talk directly to the United States and that the communist government does not thrive on confrontation as its detractors have long claimed.
In a column published in state-controlled newspapers, the 82-year-old former president also praised U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar's proposal to appoint a special envoy to reshape U.S.-Cuba relations.
Both Castro brothers have said for decades that they would be willing to talk personally with U.S. leaders. Fidel repeated Cuba's desire for dialogue in the column, saying direct negotiation "is the only way to secure friendship and peace among peoples." Currently, the countries do not have formal diplomatic relations.
