Cuban President Raul Castro told his country's National Assembly Saturday he is open to discussions with the United States on all issues. But he made it clear that Cuba's communist system of government is not negotiable.
Castro was responding to comments by American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who has said Havana must scrap communism in order to improve relations with Washington.
“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,” he added.
He scoffed at critics who have predicted that the country’s political system will crumble after “the death of Fidel and all of us."
However, Castro conceded that U.S. President Barack Obama has been less "aggressive" than George W. Bush with regards to Cuba, with less anti-Cuban rhetoric coming from the Obama administration.
He repeated Cuba's willingness “to sustain a respectful dialogue with the United States, between equals”.
But he noted that while Obama said he wants to “recast” relations with Cuba and has eased the 47-year-old embargo by allowing Cuban-Americans to travel and send money freely to the island, overall, the embargo remains in tact.
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