{"id":200847,"date":"2016-03-22T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T07:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=200847"},"modified":"2016-03-22T07:00:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T07:00:43","slug":"obama-castro-spar-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/03\/obama-castro-spar-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama and Castro spar over human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama sparred over human rights issues including the American prison at Guantanamo Bay and Cuba’s political prisoners.<\/p>\n
At a historic news conference, Mr Castro said if he was given a list of political prisoners, he would “release them tonight”.<\/p>\n
The White House has said it has given Cuba lists of dissidents in the past.<\/p>\n
Mr Castro does not view the prisoners as dissidents, US officials said.<\/p>\n
That disagreement is central to the conflict between US and Cuban officials.<\/p>\n
More needs to be done to lift the US embargo on trade with Cuba, Mr Castro said, adding that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp must close.<\/p>\n
Mr Obama, the first serving US president to visit Cuba since 1959, said the trade embargo would be fully lifted.<\/p>\n
“Cuba’s destiny will not be decided by the United States or any other nation… The future of Cuba will be decided by Cubans not by anybody else,” Mr Obama said.<\/p>\n