"We have sent messages to the U.S. government in private and in public that we are willing to discuss everything, whenever they want," Castro said Thursday in a speech in Venezuela. "Human rights, press freedom, political prisoners, everything, everything, everything they want to talk about." Politico
Hillary Clinton welcomes the gesture:
The U.S. and Cuba are trading the warmest words in their half-century cold war. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday called Cuban President Raul Castro's latest comments a "very welcome gesture."
After a series of overtures from President Barack Obama, Castro said Thursday that he is ready to talk with the U.S. and put "everything" on the table, even questions of human rights and political prisoners.
"We welcome his comments, the overture they represent and we are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond," Clinton said while visiting the Dominican Republic on her way to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. The president is to fly Friday to Trinidad for the 34-nation summit, a gathering to which Cuba, as the region's only non-democracy, is not invited. ... Meanwhile, the head of the Organization of American States said Friday that he will ask its members to readmit Cuba 47 years after they ousted the communist nation.
Obama and Clinton had earlier said that Havana needed to reciprocate his "good faith" gesture of removing some of the restrictions that lock Americans and their money out of Cuba. But Castro's comments seem to be helping relations move forward even without a more concrete move by Cuba on issues that have long been U.S. sticking points. MSNBC
