Europe > Western Europe > France > Hollande meets with Fidel Castro during historic visit to Cuba

France: Hollande meets with Fidel Castro during historic visit to Cuba

2015/05/13

French President François Hollande met with retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his brother and current president, Raul Castro, on Monday during a historic visit to the communist island.

“I had before me a man who made history. There is a debate on what could be his place, his responsibilities. But coming to Cuba, I wanted to meet Fidel Castro,” Hollande told reporters before attending an official welcoming ceremony. He as well met with Raul Castro, who took over at the same time as his brother retired in 2008 due to poor health.

Hollande is the initial French president to visit Cuba in additional than a century, and is as well the initial Western chief of national to make the trip since Havana and Washington announced in December plans to normalise relations for the initial time in additional than half a century.

“[Hollande] wanted this visit to be as significant and symbolic as possible, and this indeed did happen since he visited both Fidel and Raul Castro,” FRANCE 24’s appropriate correspondent James André reported from Cuba’s capital Havana.

“He was received by the former leader and father of the revolution [Fidel Castro] at his private residence with his wife and two of his children ... Again he went on to visit Raul Castro, the current chief of national, and there were discussions of human rights, the situation of the island, the opening of the island. This was one of the major issues of this visit … to position France centre-stage as far as business and contracts are concerned.”

The French president as well called for the United States to lift its trade embargo on Cuba during his visit to the island.

“Anything France can do to make sure ... the opening is confirmed, so that the measures that have so harmed the development of Cuba can be rescinded, so that the identity of each country is respected, this is what has to be done,” Hollande said in an exchange with students at Havana University.

Hollande landed in Cuba on Sunday as part of a tour of the Antillean islands. Prior to his arrival, he said that France is seeking “to be the initial part European nations, and the initial part Western nations, to be able to say to the Cubans that we will be at their side if they decide themselves to take needed steps towards opening up".

"Cuba wants to move on to a new phase, a new period, a new time for this island that was victim of an embargo," Hollande said.

France leads EU rapprochement

The European Union suspended relations with Cuba in 2003 over a crackdown on journalists and activists but it opened talks to replace ties in April 2014, aiming to persuade Havana to improve its rights record.

It was under the French presidency of the EU in 2008 that political dialogue was initial resumed between Brussels and Havana.

"France has always been a leader in the European Union. The fact that the French president is coming shows France's very significant role in the dialogue between Cuba and the European Union," Eduardo Perera from the University of Havana told AFP.

France, which has made its relations with Latin America and the Caribbean a foreign policy priority, has been a strong supporter of the normalisation of ties between Cuba and the EU.

Europe's rapprochement with Cuba began before the December announcement on Cuba-US relations.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius made a brief stopover to Cuba in April 2014, the initial visit to the island by France's top diplomat in three decades.

Trade between France and Cuba is modest, worth around $388 million a year, with the balance solidly in France's favour.

But French officials say they recognise the importance of the EU positioning itself politically and economically for at the same time as the US embargo is from presently on lifted.

Related Articles

War! Tourists from England, Russia and France involved in bloody fighting
2016/06/13
French President Francois Hollande walks on the Ujibashi bridge as he visits the Ise-Jingu Shrine in Ise
2016/05/28 French President François Hollande pledged Friday he would press on with his labor reforms, despite strikes that have paralyzed the country. In a press conference on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Japan, Hollande said, “I will keep going because I think these are good reforms,” adding that his government would ensure “freedom of movement” for citizens among rail strikes and fuel blockades. Addressing the unrest, he said, “We can’t accept that there are unions that dictate the law,” adding, “As chief of national, I want this reform. It fits with everything we have done for four years. I want us to go right to the end.”
France Business sentiment stable in January
2016/01/28 According to the INSSE business climate survey, the business confidence indicator remained stable in January at December’s 102 points, which had marked a three-month high. Thus, the indicator remains slightly above the long-term 100-point average, which is the benchmark measure the INSEE uses to distinguish between improving and worsening business expectations. According to the INSEE, the result came on the back of improvements in businesses’ assessment regarding their personal and general production expectations, which offset a fall in completed activity and inventories.
France asks EU partners for new sanctions on Iran
2016/01/28 France has asked its European Union partners to consider new sanctions on Iran for its recent missile tests, officials have told The Associated Press, even as Paris welcomed the president of the Islamic Republic, which is flush with funds from the lifting of other sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program. The ambiguous signals emerging Wednesday from France came as President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in 2013, signed billions of dollars in business deals on an before stop in Italy and met with Pope Francis in the initial such Iranian foray into Europe since 1999. France hopes for similarly lucrative deals during Rouhani's two-day visit, along with regional peacemaking efforts as the once-pariah national emerges from decades of isolation.
France Consumer confidence remains stable in December,
2016/01/17 The consumer confidence indicator elaborated by the National Statistics Institute (INSEE) remained stable in December at November’s 96 points. The result slightly overshot the 95 points the markets had expected. As a result, the consumer confidence indicator remained below its long-term average of 100. In its statement, INSEE pointed out that the result came on the back of an development in consumers’ opinions regarding their next financial prospects over the previous month, which offset a deterioration in households’ completed financial situation. Household’s saving capacity remained virtually stable over the previous month.