Cuba Insists US Drop Blockade Ahead of Embassy Reopening

If the United States does not fully remove its blockade against Cuba, relations between the two countries can never return to normal, Cuban Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel said.

The vice president's comments come as Cuba prepares to reopen its embassy in Washington Monday – 54 years after Washington ended relations between the two countries amid the Cold War.

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However, despite the diplomatic advances, Cuba has insisted that in order for relations to be considered fully normalized, the United States needs to lift the illegal blockade on the island that continues to hamper its economy.

“There can not be a true normalization if US do not lift the blockade,” said the vice president Saturday in a speech at the National Council of Universities in Havana.

The Cuban leader added relations will never be normalized, “if [the U.S.] does not stop the illegal radio and television, if it does not return the illegally occupied territory of Guantanamo Bay and if there no change in the conduct of U.S. diplomats residing in Cuba,” in reference to the activities of U.S. diplomatic staff to aid the activities of opposition groups.

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The vice president reiterated that deepening diplomatic talks with the U.S. does not mean that Cuba will change its ways of governing or abandon the Cuban Revolution.

The comments come after Gustavo Machin, the deputy director for U.S. affairs in the Cuban Foreign Ministry, warned that the U.S. may be seeking a “regime change” on the socialist island.

The Cuban embassy in Washington is set to reopen Monday, when diplomatic relations between the two countries will be formalized. Later that same morning, over 500 people are expected to attend a special ceremony when the embassy will raise the Cuban flag for the first time in over 50 years.

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