Fidel Castro Breaks His Silence

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro released his first statement on renewing diplomatic relations between his country and the United States on Monday. “I don’t trust the policy of the United States, nor have I exchanged a word with them, but this does not mean I reject a pacific solution to the conflicts,” he wrote in a letter to a student federation at the University of Havana that was also read aloud on state television. “We will always defend cooperation and friendship with all the people of the world, including with our political adversaries.” The 88-year-old revolutionary leader’s remarks were his first on the situation since the landmark declaration that the U.S. and Cuba would work to restore diplomatic ties on Dec. 17. The statement follows last week’s high-level talks between U.S. and Cuba in Havana.