Cuba says not convinced U.S. has given up 'regime change' policy

Cuba says not convinced U.S. has given up 'regime change' policy
HAVANA | BY DANIEL TROTTA

Cuba remains unconvinced the United States has stopped trying to remove
the Communist Party from power despite a public pledge from President
Barack Obama disowning "regime change," a Cuban foreign ministry
official said on Thursday.

With the two longtime adversaries set to restore diplomatic relations on
Monday after a 54-year break, Cuba said the United States would need to
abandon its policy of regime change in order to improve overall ties.

At the Summit of the Americas in Panama where Obama met face-to-face
with Cuban President Raul Castro in April, the American president told a
news conference: "On Cuba, we are not in the business of regime change."

That signaled a break from U.S. efforts to overthrow or destabilize the
Cuban government since Fidel Castro's rebels came to power in a 1959
revolution. Fidel Castro, 88, retired in 2008 when his brother Raul, 84,
took over.

"You have to appreciate the words of the president ... but you have to
see what happens in practice," Gustavo Machin, deputy director for U.S.
affairs in the Cuban Foreign Ministry, told reporters.

"We haven't seen anything" suggesting practical change, he said.

Machin cited multimillion-dollar annual budgets for what are commonly
called the Cuban democracy programs, which Cuba sees as hostile efforts
to undermine its government and socialist political system.

The 2016 U.S. State Department budget request includes $20 million for
such programs to aid victims of political repression, support civil
society and promote free speech.

"We recognize the statement by the president, but you have to see the
practical impact of what happens, don't you?" Machin said.

Diplomatic relations will be restored on Monday when the so-called
interests sections in Washington and Havana will be upgraded to embassies.

Cuba will hold a ceremony in Washington with some 500 guests and a
delegation led by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who will become the
first foreign minister to travel to the United States on an official
visit since the 1959 revolution, Machin said.

The United States has yet to set a date for Secretary of State John
Kerry to visit Havana and raise the U.S. flag.

After embassies open, the two sides have pledged to begin a lengthy and
complicated attempt to normalize overall relations, which today are
impeded by matters such as the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba and U.S.
control of the Guantanamo Bay naval base in eastern Cuba.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Jaime Hamre;
Editing by Ken Wills)

Source: Cuba says not convinced U.S. has given up 'regime change' policy
| Reuters -
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/17/us-cuba-usa-idUSKCN0PQ2RD20150717