Although the US and Cuba are working to make progress, normalizing relations will take time, Josefina Vidal, director general of the United States Department of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, cautioned on Friday.
The diplomat was addressing researchers from Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and South Korea participating in an international colloquium that wound up on Friday at the Center for Marti Studies (CEM).
She noted that the difficult and complex dispute with the US dates back from before January 1, 1959, with Washington of trying to impose its will on Cuba, a policy that in her opinion has not changed, but has a different strategy.
Vidal said that, although the economic, commercial and financial embargo by the US against Cuba remains in force, there have been positive steps such as the removal of Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and the lifting of certain restrictions, and technical agreements that help to establish contacts between the two countries and to know each other better and to identify interests on different issues have been signed.
“We have started the road towards the normalization of relations and we should not build our hopes up; it will take time so that one day relations of civility exist and bilateral ties improve and problems already identified by the governments of the two countries are solved,” she said.
