HAVANA -- Cuban President Raul Castro sent a blunt message to Washington on Saturday as the White House works to reverse a half-century of hostility between the U.S. and Cuba: Don't expect detente to do away with the communist system.
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Castro's speech to Cuba's National Assembly was a counterpoint to the message U.S. President Barack Obama gave in his year-end news conference the day before. Obama reiterated that by engaging directly with the Cuban people, Americans are more likely to encourage change in Cuba's one-party system and centrally planned economy.
"We must not expect that in order for relations with the United States to improve, Cuba will abandon the ideas that it has struggled for," Castro said.
Also appearing before parliament were three convicted spies just released from long U.S. prison terms. The last imprisoned members of the "Cuban Five" spy ring were freed last week in a deal that included American contractor Alan Gross and a Cuban who had spied for the U.S., both released from their cells in Cuba as a first step toward the restoration of full diplomatic ties and a loosening of U.S. trade and travel restrictions.
While Castro, 83, spoke in Havana, other Cubans of his generation were leading a protest in Miami against plans to normalize relations with the Castro government. About 200 people showed up, most of them older Cuban exiles.
"The Cuban resistance will continue both on the island and in exile to do everything and continue the struggle until Cuba is truly free and democratic once again," said Sylvia Iriondo, an activist with Mothers Against Repression.
Castro also expressed gratitude to Obama during his speech, calling it a "just decision" to release the men who spied on anti-Castro exile groups in south Florida in the 1990s and have long been regarded as heroes in Cuba. Seated behind the three and their families was Elian Gonzalez, the young Cuban rafter at the center of a bitter custody battle in 2000 between relatives in Miami and his father in Cuba.
The executive orders Obama announced Wednesday can clear the way for limited exports to Cuba and freer travel by specific categories of Americans, but he acknowledged his need to work with Congress to end the decades-old embargo Cuba blames for the dire condition of its infrastructure and economy.
Castro reminded Cubans that the embargo remains in place.
"An important step has been taken, but the essential thing remains, the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, which has grown in recent years particularly in terms of financial transactions," he said.
His address follows announcements by both presidents Wednesday that Cuba and the U.S. will reopen embassies and exchange ambassadors for the first time in more than 50 years.
The agreement included the exchange of the three prisoners, convicted in 2001, for a Cuban who had been imprisoned on the island for nearly 20 years for spying on behalf of the CIA. Gross had been held in Cuba for five years for illegally importing restricted communications equipment. Two members of the Cuban Five already had been released by the U.S. As part of the exchange, Cuba also released 53 other prisoners.
Late Friday, Cuban state television showed four of the Cuban Five celebrating their reunion.
Their release angered the protesters in Miami, who vowed to continue fighting the thawing relationship between the countries and prevent any lifting of the embargo. Some speakers Saturday in Little Havana emphasized unity of the Cuban-American community and said there is not a generational divide, even though most in the crowd were older.
Many protesters said they felt betrayed by Obama and his plans. "The worst infamy is the pretext he used: He says it's to help the Cuban people," former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart said to chuckles.
Freddy Suastegui, 31, of Miami, listened to speeches with his family. He said the latest decisions disregard the work being done to promote change in Cuba.
"What diplomacy is going to happen if the Castros aren't promising anything and we're going to go ahead and infuse them with more cash?" he said. "That just makes the regime stronger and the people weaker."
Most of the estimated 2 million Cubans living in the United States are in Florida. Thousands marched and more than 350 were arrested in 2000 after U.S. agents seized the young Gonzalez and returned him to Cuba. When Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother in 2006, hundreds celebrated in the streets of Little Havana, and more recently, Cuban-born singer Gloria Estefan led tens of thousands in support of Havana's Ladies in White dissidents.
By comparison, Wednesday's spontaneous protests and Saturday's demonstration in Miami's Jose Marti Park were sparsely attended.
"I think there are a lot of people sitting on the sidelines, tired," said Andy Gomez, a Cuba expert and retired University of Miami professor.
Information for this article was contributed by E. Eduardo Castillo, Anne-Marie Garcia, Christine Armario, Kristen Wyatt and Rachel La Corte of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/21/2014