Castro delivers defiant message to Clinton

Cuban President Raúl Castro delivered a defiant message to Secretary Clinton Saturday in a speech to the Cuban National Assembly. Annoyed that Clinton has said on multiple occasions that Cuba must make changes in order to have better relations with the United States, Castro declared:

I have to say, with all due respect to Mrs. Clinton … they didn’t elect me president to restore capitalism in Cuba, nor to hand over the revolution. I was elected to defend, maintain and continue perfecting socialism, not destroy it.”

Castro also reminded Clinton that the only torture in Cuba was in the United States’ Guantánamo Bay detention center:

Yes, there was torture, and it is on a part of the Cuban territory even though it was not made by us. … That is why we said with all respect, to Ms Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of that country, that if she wants to discuss about everything, we will discuss on everything, about here, but about there too.”

Clinton is working hard to improve U.S. policies toward Cuba. Last April, she announced that the United States was lifting travel and gift restrictions on Americans who have relatives in Cuba. She also announced a review of U.S. policy toward Cuba. But you don’t get something for nothing; understandably, Clinton wants changes from Cuba in exchange for improved relations. (And if Cuba really wants those tourists, it should seriously consider change.)

Meanwhile, Fidel Castro says Clinton should get a Nobel Prize.

Photo: ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images