US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shake hands at the start of their meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York yesterday.

AFP/New York


US President Barack Obama met his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro yesterday at the UN, all smiles after both renewed their calls for an end to Washington’s trade embargo against Havana.
The leaders of the former Cold War rivals shook hands at the start of what was their second meeting, after an historic encounter in April at the Summit of the Americas in Panama.
Close neighbours but long-time foes, the US and Cuba restored diplomatic ties in July after a five-decade stand-off, and now must turn their attention to economic relations.
The two countries have re-opened their embassies in each other’s capitals and are engaged in a dialogue to resolve their remaining political differences, but US trade sanctions remain.
Obama’s White House wants to lift the embargo, which prevents almost all trade across the Florida Straits, but conservatives in the US Congress are not ready to forgive the communist island.
On Monday, during a speech to the UN General Assembly, Obama said he was confident Congress would “inevitably lift an embargo that should not be in place anymore.”
“For 50 years, the US pursued a Cuba policy that failed to improve the lives of the Cuban people,” he admitted, to applause, in his address to fellow world leaders.  
“We changed that. We continue to have differences with the Cuban government. We will continue to stand up for human rights.  
“But we address these issues through diplomatic relations, and increased commerce, and people-to-people ties.”
Castro, the 84-year-old veteran revolutionary who succeeded his brother Fidel in 2006, made his first address to the Assembly a few hours after Obama took the podium.
“Now, a long and complex process begins towards the normalisation of relations, but this will only be achieved with the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade,” he said.
At a UN development summit on Saturday, Castro called the embargo the “main obstacle” to his country’s economic development.
Next month, the General Assembly will discuss a new draft resolution condemning the US embargo against Cuba.
The assembly has voted each year since 1982 to approve a resolution calling on the US to lift the embargo.
Obama, in his address, predicted a better future for the island.
“Change won’t come overnight to Cuba, but I’m confident that openness, not coercion, will support the reforms and better the life the Cuban people deserve,” he said.
Many US Republicans oppose lifting the embargo, arguing that Cuba is still a one party state with no respect for human rights and must do more to enshrine freedoms before coming in from the cold.
But there are also sceptics about the rapprochement in Havana, notably Raul’s iconic predecessor and brother Fidel Castro, who has warned his compatriots not to trust American generosity.
In particular, he alleges the US owes Cuba compensation for the damage that sanctions did to the island economy, running into “many millions of dollars.”