This Article is From Jan 28, 2015

Fidel Castro Breaks Silence on US-Cuba Rapprochement

 Fidel Castro Breaks Silence on US-Cuba Rapprochement

File Photo: Cuban leader Fidel Castro. (Associated Press)

Havana: Cuban leader Fidel Castro has broken his silence on a historic rapprochement between Washington and Havana, implicitly endorsing it even as he expressed an abiding distrust of his old foe.

The 88-year-old revolutionary icon had said nothing since last month's surprise agreement, raising questions not only about where he stood on mending relations with Washington, but also about his health and political status.

On Monday, Mr Castro appeared to answer some of those questions with a letter read out on state television that reflected both his skepticism and tacit support for the decision by his brother Raul to normalize ties.

"I don't trust in the policy of the United States, nor have I exchanged one word with them, without this representing - far from it - rejection of a peaceful solution to conflicts," he said.

He refrained from criticizing the agreement, and said Raul Castro had acted in keeping with his powers as president.

"We will always defend cooperation and friendship with all the peoples of the world, among them our political adversaries. It's what we are calling for on everyone's part," he said.

The text of the letter, which was addressed to the Federation of University Students, was published on Tuesday in the official Communist Party newspaper Granma and other state publications, under headlines that did not highlight his comments on the US-Cuba rapprochement.

In his typically loquacious manner, Mr Castro covered a range of topics in the letter, touching on Ancient Greece and Cuba's military campaigns in Africa in the 1970s and 1980s before coming around to his comments on the rapprochement with the United States.
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