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Cuba and US to name mutual top diplomats

CUBA and the US will name their ambassadors to each other later this month, President Raul Castro announced on Tuesday.

The envoys, the first since 1961, will be announced after the Washington removes the socialist Caribbean island from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

US President Barack Obama announced that Cuba would be removed from the list in April, but the order will not take effect until the 45-day period for Congress to oppose it expires.

Mr Castro cautioned that the renewal of diplomatic ties was only one step towards normalising relations following Washington’s 55-year economic blockade.

And he reaffirmed Cuba’s claim to Guantanamo Bay, occupied by the US — illegally according to Havana — as a military base since 1903.

Mr Castro also criticised the European common position limiting EU relations with Cuba that was implemented in 1996 by then Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar.

“That common position should have never existed,” he said.

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