Raul Castro seeks negotiations with US

Raul Castro seeks negotiations with US
by Michael Langan Sat Dec 2, 10:46 AM ET

HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba's communist interim leader Raul Castro, in a shift
from the tack of his ailing brother
Fidel Castro, has pushed for negotiations with the United States to end
decades of tense ties.

"Of course, that is, as long as they accept that we are a country that
does not tolerate any reduction of its independence, and based on the
principles of equality, reciprocity, non interference and mutual
respect," Raul Castro told troops at Cuba's first military parade in a
decade on Saturday.

"Until that happens, after almost half a century, we are prepared to
wait patiently for the moment when common sense takes root in the halls
of power in Washington," added Raul Castro.

Raul Castro has been filling in for his brother Fidel, 80, since Fidel
Castro -- Cuba's leader since 1959 -- underwent intestinal surgery in July.

The policy of willingness to talk with the United States if respected as
an equal is standing Cuban policy.

But Fidel Castro has not reached out to the United States, much less
publicly, on a regular basis.

And Raul Castro's timing and mentioning the negotiating table -- as Cuba
is consolidating its changing of the communist guard -- suggests some
growing autonomy on his part.

His tone, however, did not reflect a change in Cuba's defiant everyday
anti-US rhetoric.

Raul Castro said the United States was "at a crossroads, with no way
out" in its war in
Iraq, and that its war on terror on a global level was "marching toward
a humiliating defeat."

Cuba, Latin America's only one-party communist regime, and the United
States do not have full diplomatic relations. They do have Interests
Sections, a diplomatic office, in each other's capital.

The United States has had en economic embargo on Cuba since 1962.

Friday Vice President Carlos Lage delivered a firm defense of Cuba's
one-party communist system, insisting it would outlive ailing leader
Fidel Castro and challenging US calls for change.

Lage, also vice president of the Council of State, told hundreds of
supporters at a closing gala for celebrations honoring Fidel Castro's
80th birthday that: "We will have one party."

"But I'm not talking about today, I am talking about the future.

"In Cuba, there will be no succession. There will be continuity. There
will not be another Fidel Castro. No one will imitate him; many will
follow him. .. There will not be ambitions, or ego trips... We will not
allow that," Lage added.

"When Fidel is no longer with us, his work, his ideas and his example
will be," he said, adding: "Fidel is recovering. We will have him among
us, he will continue to guide us. We are going to ask him to keep doing
it for a few more years."

The US State Department has criticized the replacement of one Castro by
another and said Cubans should have the opportunity for democratic change.

"We think the Cuban people need to be given the opportunity to see and
have democratic change. We believe that is what the Cuban people would
like to have," Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said in
Washington this week.

"The creation of some sort of Castro dynasty simply by transferring
power to Raul Castro and having him continue to operate the same
undemocratic, repressive policies as his brother is certainly not a
solution that we think is viable," Casey said, adding that the United
States was ready to help.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061202/ts_afp/cubacastropolitics_061202151034