Subject: BREAKING NEWS: Castro, standing with Obama, rejects criticism and calls on U.S. to lift restrictions on Cuba
From: "POLITICO" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2016 12:21:00 -0600

Cuban President Raul Castro opened a joint news conference with President Barack Obama in Havana on Monday with a laundry list of why his country and the United States would never see eye to eye.

Castro spoke before Obama, detailing the fruits of thawed diplomacy, namely the restoration of postal service and travel between the two countries and urging the removal of the decades-old trade embargo between the two countries. 

"This cooperation is beneficial not only for Cuba and the United States but also for our hemisphere at large," Castro said, referring also work in dealing with the spread of Zika virus in the region. 

The Cuban president touted his country's progress on communications and medication, remarking that "much more could be done if the U.S. blockade were lifted." The steps forward to remove restriction are "positive, but insufficient," Castro said.

"The blockade stands as the most important obstacle to our economic development and the well-being of the Cuban people. That's why its removal will be of the essence," Castro said.

He also urged the return of "illegally occupied" Guantanamo Bay, later taking shots at the United States' "political manipulation and double standards" with respect to human rights, as well as its lack of universal health care and other social programs for its citizens.

"There are profound differences between our countries that will not go away," Castro said, noting a litany of differences between the two countries on democracy, human rights, global stability and other issues.

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