Castro makes first comment on normalising ties with US

Havana, Jan 27: Former Cuban president Fidel Castro has broken his silence for the first time on normalising ties with the US. In a letter to students published by main national daily La Granma, Castro, 88, says he doesn't trust US policies and he has not exchanged a single word with the Americans, although this does not mean at all a rejection of a peaceful resolution of military conflicts or removing military threats. He indicates, however, that defence of peace is everyone's duty. The Cubans will always defend cooperation and friendship among all the peoples in the world and even with this country's political opponents, Castro says. He says the steps taken by his younger brother Raul Castro, who is Cub’'s President of the Council of State and President of the Council of Ministers, were appropriate and fell in line with the occupational powers granted by the National Assembly and the ruling Communist Party of Cuba. The elder Castro indicates that the ominous threats looming over humankind today should give way to norms compatible with the notion of human dignity.