Cuban President Raúl Castro will speak before the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on September 28, according to multiple reports. Castro’s visit will mark the first time a president of Cuba has publicly set foot on American soil since 1960, when President Fidel Castro, his elder brother, spoke before the United Nations.
The announcement comes as tensions between the United States and Cuba continue to wane. The process began publicly last December when President Barack Obama announced his administration planned to set a “new course” on U.S.-Cuba relations. Soon after, the U.S. traded three Cubans convicted of spying in Miami for Alan Gross, an American aid worker convicted of espionage by a Cuban court in 2011. Since then, U.S. and Cuban delegations have met several times to discuss issues ranging from human rights, treatment of prisoners, trade, extradition and, most significantly, the U.S. embargo on Cuba, which the Cubans calls “the blockade.”
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SOURCE: Newsweek, Taylor Wofford
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