Fidel Castro, Cuba's 88-year-old former ruler, has spoken out on his country's relations with the U.S. for the first time since President Barack Obama went public with plans to normalize them in mid-December.
"I don’t trust the policy of the United States, nor have I exchanged a word with them, but this does not mean I reject a peaceful solution to conflicts or the dangers of war," said a letter attributed to Castro and read aloud on state television from the University of Havana on Monday,
according to Agence France-Presse. The 1,200-word letter was also published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
"We will always defend cooperation and friendship with all the people of the world, including with our political adversaries," he continued.
The Washington Post reported that he letter was addressed to Cuba’s Student Federation on the eve of an annual national march and that Castro's comments about the U.S. came only in the last few paragraphs.
Last week, the highest-ranking U.S. delegation in decades visited Havana to begin negotiating the restoration of embassies in each country.
Neither Obama, Fidel, or Cuba's current leader, Raul Castro, were directly involved in the talks, but the meeting was seen as a positive step in normalizing diplomatic relations. The two countries have been without any significant diplomatic ties since 1961.
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