Raul Castro looking at economic changes for Cuba
Interim Cuban leader Raul Castro said he is considering changes in economic policies that would include seeking out more foreign investment and working more closely with private-sector companies on development projects in Cuba.
The younger brother of Fidel Castro has been serving as acting president since July 31, 2006 when the elder Castro was forced to temporarily step aside due to health problems. Raul Castro, in a speech Thursday on the national holiday honoring the island country's revolution, said Cuba is in need of economic reforms if it hopes to improve conditions there.
He noted Cuba would only be willing to partner with 'serious entrepreneurs, upon well-defined legal bases,' according to a report in the Washington Post.
While issuing standard July 26 denunciations of the United States, he also said relations between Cuba and its northern neighbor could improve, specifically pointing to the possibility for changes when the next U.S. president takes office.
According to a Miami Herald account of the speech, Castro said: 'Whatever new administration emerges will have to decide if it will maintain the absurd, illegal and failed policy toward Cuba, or if it will accept the olive branch that we extended. If the new U.S. authorities finally put aside their arrogance and decide to talk in a civilized manner, they’re welcome. If not, we are willing to continue confronting their policy of hostility, even for another 50 years, if that becomes necessary.'
The July 26 national holiday in Cuba marks the anniversary of the July 23, 1953 attack on the Moncada army barracks near Santiago, which the government recognizes as the start of the revolution. Fidel Castro came to power in January 1959, after the government of Fulgencio Batista was overthrown.
Raul Castro looking at economic changes for Cuba
