Raul Castro Arrives in New York, Will Address UN General Assembly on Monday
HAVANA TIMES — Cuban President Raul Castro traveled today to the United States to attend the UN General Assembly, where he will deliver a speech on Monday for the first time as head of state, reported dpa news.
Castro, who arrived around noon in New York, is scheduled to attend the Friday morning UN plenary session where Pope Francis will speak. The Pope concluded his 4-day visit to Cuba on Tuesday, where he met with Raul and Fidel Castro. From Cuba the Pope traveled directly to Washington.
When Raul Castro address some 140 heads of state or government at the UN General Assembly it will be the first time in 15 years that a Cuban president speaks to the forum. Fidel Castro spoke there for the last time in 2000.
The historic Cuban leader is famous for uttering interminable speeches of several hours, including his four and a half hour address to the UN General Assembly in September 1960, when he especially criticized the United States.
Fidel resigned from office in 2006 due to serious illness and was followed in the post by his younger brother.
Moses, I am not denying the US contributions to science, merely suggesting that credit should be given where credit is due. Lee-Berners earned his credit for the WWW just as Flowers for Colossus and Turing for his conception deserve their credit.
I have never suggested that US policy should be driven by other countries, the US is in general considerate of the views of it’s allies. But equally, there is no obligation upon those allies to necessarily adhere to or agree with US policy. That was demonstrated when George W. Bush determined to attack and invade Irag basing his action upon the believe that Iraq was holding “weapons of mass destruction” – which was then promoted at the UN by Colin Powell.
The previous action taken when Bush Snr. was President following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of poor little Kuwait which received wider allied support. For your interest we had a son-in-law who served in that action serving alongside the US 7th Army and the US Marines. As a Sandhurst trained professional he later expressed admiration for the organization of the forces by General Schwarzneggar but said that as the army swung around from its original position on the Saudi/Iraq border, crossing the so-called “Highway of Death” where he saw the incinerated trucks and bodies, and just as they were about to attack Saddam’s much vaunted Republican Guard which had been held in reserve, Bush issued the instruction that they cease action. my son-in-laws view at that time, which he expressed to us, was that if Bush had held off for a further 48 hours, Saddam’s rule would have been ended, But as we all know, Bush didn’t and the US lost a great General when Schwarzneggar resigned in disgust.
As my cousin worked at Bletchley House for SIS (MI6) and knew both Turing and Flowers, I can assure you that Colossus was designed by Flowers. Turing had the conception of a computer and described it in a paper he gave at the University of Cambridge in 1935 and proposed that it ought to be called a “computer”, thus coining the word.
I agree that the embargo should be lifted as soon as possible as well. The difference between us is under what circumstances. It’s a red herring to suggest being anti-CASTRO means going back to failed policies or former governments. No, I do not believe that the US is right and the rest of the world is wrong. I believe that the US is right and the rest of the world is on its way to realize that.
i guess you think we are right and every country in the world is wrong. surveys show the vast majority of cubans want the embargo lifted and in my travels to cuba i never met a cuban who was in favor of the embargo. we should not go back to the bush policy of one family visit every three years. our policy of 55 years didnt work and castro wasnt defeated during the special period.
sure. we are right and the rest of the world is wrong. the vast majority of cubans are for the lifting of the embargo. surveys say this and in my trips to cuba i never met anyone who wanted the embargo to continue. we should not go back to the bush policy of one family visit every three years and we should not deny americans their right to travel.
While I concede that the concept of the WWW was first espoused by Brits, the US Department of Defense first awarded contracts as early as the 1960s for packet network systems, including the development of the ARPANET (which would become the first network to use the Internet Protocol.) The first message was sent over the ARPANET from computer science Professor Leonard Kleinrock’s laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the second network node at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). The prevailing academic belief is that Alan Turing, not the Englishman Flowers or his predecessor Charles Babbage, designed the first general purpose computer. But both of these points are debates for another day. My larger point is that Americans have never been afraid of being out front by ourselves to do something that we believe is good for America and the world even at the risk of failure and/or being incorrect. If US foreign policy was dictated solely by what other countries are doing and thinking, we might all be speaking German now. Our Cuban policy is not nor should it be driven by Spanish, Italian or even Canadian policy.
Excuse my smile!
nidal, you will find a beautiful country with wonderful people. Getting to see the US naval base at Guantanamo is more difficult. I guess you will travel by Viazul and the nearest of its routes is the one from the town of Guantanamo to Baracoa and there is little to be seen – it merely passes the end of a road which originally ran into the base.
I believe it is possible if you dismount at the town, to eventually reach a point where the base can be seen distantly through a telescope.
As for the culture, despite the efforts of the Castro family regime to change it to a socialist one, happily it is far too strong to change. A change away from the totalitarian communist regime would however allow that distinct culture to blossom in the freedom it merits and to regain that which has been lost.
There are tours of foreign “Che” devotees that go to Santa Clara most wearing that much overused image of their hero on T shirts as the survey the huge Fidel Castro inspired mausoleum and 5-7 acre concrete park, with a memorial park for other “heroes” tucked in well behind the massive bronze statue of a gun wielding “Che”. It is way over the top and in my view, Dr. Guevara would have opposed its construction as he was a genuine revolutionary, not a power seeking dictatorial Castro and would have preferred that the enormous cost would have been contributed to the people. but then I guess that is why he resigned from the regime.
My preference is for the museum in Santa Clara that records the train derailment as it has the original carriages with art displayed in the interiors.
Obviously it is impossible for Fidel Castro to travel far wearing his colostomy bag. The bag is one of the reasons why wearing a suit is difficult and why he prefers to wear his Adidas sport clothing which helps to cover the bag. When his bowel problem started, he was advised to have a colostomy but declined, however he eventually had to accept it was necessary. Obviously with his controlling personality he found that decision difficult.
Whereas I admire your enthusiasm and pride of country Moses, you are failing to recognize the work of others. The US did not invent the Internet, the originator is still alive in the UK. Watson and Crick similarly unveiled the double helix. Dr. Tommy Flowers designed and constructed the world’s first computer, Colossus.
I am just trying to keep your good feet on the ground! Don’t ask me what Canada introduced – I might be stuck!
I loved your reaction to ronrobel777 regarding Cubans to start dog-walking businesses. My mind went to all our neighbourhood dogs, the ones tied to open ended barrels in back yards, the ones up on the roofs, the one-eyed Dachshund
owned by a guy who spends all day on a bench watching passers-by and indeed our own pooch – the only one I know possessing not only a collar but a leash and her name on a disc – obviously the local aristocrat!
We are Americans. Being the only country to do _____ is nothing new. We went to the moon, we invented the internet, we mapped the human genome. Taking a stand for Cuban democracy, even by ourselves, is who we are. Allowing Cubans to start dog-walking businesses has its place. But are you really satisfied with that? You didn’t answer my question: How do you ignore their [Cubans] cries for freedom and focus on the lifting of the embargo?
Muchos gracias Moses – I’ll include one for you!
I suggest if you want to try Cuban cuisine you should make a stop in Miami. You won’t find it, for the most part, in Cuba. If the “culture” does change perhapse it will be with the re-introduction of this cuisine to Cuba. There are, by the way, other aspects of the Cuban culture which have disappeared under 50 years of Communist rule, sadly probably never to reappear.
we are the only country with an embargo on Cuba. Recent opening allows many Cubans to establish businesses and become independent.
free in terms of being allowed to go there. but have to admit you got me on that one.
When you write that you want to see the culture before it changes, what are you referring to? Do you expect Cuban son to disappear? Are you afraid that tourism will change the way Cubans from the east dress in the same color head-to-toe? If so, you can relax, everything that makes Cuba, Cuba, will not change. If anything, tourism will put a few more $$$ in the pockets of those Cubans who interact with tourists. In that case, Cuba will change for the better. You may actually get to eat ropa vieja in Cuba. Don’t just parrot stupid comments. Cuba is not going anywhere.
Do you care that Cubans continue to suffer the lack of basic human rights? Don’t be distracted by recent changes. A handful of WiFi hotspots and way too many unremarkable restaurants changes very little in the everyday lives of most Cubans. You have read the posts that Cubans who live in Cuba have published in Havana Times. How do you ignore their cries for freedom and focus on the lifting of the embargo? Cubans want the same freedom that you likely take for granted. Is that not important to you?
well spoken I cannot wait until I set my feet in Cuban soil , I would definitely like to see the culture before it changes , and if I had a chance I will go to view Guantanamo Bay , then I could say I was a witness to an American monstrosity , as good and this visit can be , it would be nice if Fidel Castro was on the visit to New York City and the US
I support both of your suggestions!
I regret to inform you ronbobel1777 that Canada although I think recognized as a civilized country, doesn’t provide free travel to Cuba. We have to pay the cost ourselves.
I understand why you suggest Bacardi as the drink, but would you accept one who commenced life as a Scot, substituting 14 year old Macallan malt whisky?
Secondly could I suggest the addition of BLOCKADE?
Otherwise, I’m IN!
As I forecast, there is Raul in a very smart suit and wearing one of his silk ties. The obvious purpose is to try to carry an air of respectability rather than wearing the fatigues so beloved of Fidel.
Despite trying to carry that air of respectability, Raul Castro Ruz remains the man who executed dozens of people without trial and he remains a hard core communist with a lust for power. Nothing will change within Cuba other than casting a little sand in the eyes of innocent people who have been persuaded that there is change.
Everybody is supposed to rejoice at seeing Raul Castro, Barack Obama and the Pope circling in mutual admiration of each other. What will all this result in for the people of Cuba? Nada !
Whenever a sitting US President speaks before the General Assembly, it is standing room only in the main chamber. It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd Raul’s speech will draw as he is scheduled to speak a short time before President Obama. Raul usually simply reads his speeches in nasal monotone and rarely says anything new. In fact, I propose we make up a drinking game just to make Raul’s speech worth watching. I say we drink a shot of Bacardi every time he repeats the words IMPERIAL, REVOLUTION, and EMBARGO. Who’s in?
Great news. We need to end the embargo and authorize free travel for any American who wants to go to Cuba. In this we would be joining all the civilized countries.