Cuba seeks ‘civilised’ ties

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Sunday his government wants a ‘civilised’ relationship with the United States — despite the embargo imposed on the island by the US since 1962.

Speaking to the Cuban state press upon his arrival in New York for the UN General Assembly, DiazCanel said he would use his speech at the annual gathering to denounce the commercial, economic, and financial embargo ‘which has already failed and will continue to fail’.

Of Cuban-US relations, he added Havana seeks ‘a civilised relationship despite ideological differences’.

However, he said the government of US President Donald Trump is ‘an administration with which it is difficult to form an equal relationship’.

The General Assembly marks Diaz-Canel’s debut on the world stage, after he took office on April 19, succeeding brothers Fidel and Raul Castro.

His address is scheduled for tomorrow — 58 years to the day since Fidel Castro’s first speech there.