Cuban Vice-president Says Normalization of US-Cuba Relations will Take Time

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 9 (acn) During a ceremony held Wednesday in support of Venezuela, in Havana, Cuban first vice-president Miguel Diaz Canel recalled that the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States includes a two-stage and complex process.

First is the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, which requires the withdrawal of Cuba from the US list of countries sponsors of international terrorism and solving the financial situation of the Cuban missions in US territory, said Diaz-Canel.

Along with this, US diplomats must change their attitude in Cuba, since they have turned the US Interest Section in a center of political and ideological subversion as they carry out activities that run contrary to international law and the Vienna Convention, he stressed.

According to Diaz-Canel, that first stage includes the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington, the appointment of ambassadors, the official announcement of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations and a permanent high-level dialog.

After this there would come a period of normalization of relations, which would be marked by the issue of the US economic blockade, since such a step forward is not possible without ending a policy that has inflicted human, economic and material damage to the Cuban people.

This second stage would also include the return to Cuba of the illegally occupied territory of Guantanamo, the end of subversive radio and TV transmissions and the consideration of ways to compensate the Cuban people for the damage inflicted by the US blockade.

The factors in both stages are very complex, since we are talking about a process that we consider positive and we have full intention to advance it, it will take time, Diaz-Canel said.