--- description: Castro made new demands during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit in Costa Rica on Wednesday title: Cuba: Castro Demands U.S. End Guantanamo Bay and Trade Embargo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a7a278580c21480/69877c8606f2c17f27333abd/fidel-castro-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Cuba](/tag/cuba/) ## Cuba Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Castro Demands U.S. Hand Back Guantanamo Bay and End Trade Embargo by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 29, 2015 12:19 PM CUT  Committees for the Defense of the Revolution museum in Havana, Dec. 2014. Committees for the Defense of the Revolution museum in Havana, Dec. 2014.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 29, 2015 12:19 PM CUT Cuban President Raul Castro has demanded that the United States hand back its Guantanamo Bay military base before full diplomatic relations between the countries can be restored. Castro also asked for a complete lifting of the decades-old trade embargo and for compensation for its effects, saying that without these changes the recent diplomatic thaw “wouldn’t make any sense.” President Barack Obama [pledged earlier this month that the White House would move quickly to restore ties with Havana](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/u-s-cuba-relations/cuba-frees-american-alan-gross-held-five-years-n269926 "undefined"), scrapping a slew of travel and economic restrictions with immediate effect and [dispatching a U.S. delegation to Cuba for a first round of historic talks](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/u-s-cuba-relations/havana-talks-embassies-flights-banking-agenda-diplomats-n291181 "undefined"). [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/u-s-cuba-relations/raul-castro-demands-return-guantanamo-bay-end-trade-embargo-n295886?cid=par-time-article%5F20150129 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3687347/castro-guantanamo-trade-embargo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3687347/castro-guantanamo-trade-embargo/"},"headline":"Castro Demands U.S. Hand Back Guantanamo Bay and End Trade Embargo","datePublished":"2015-01-29T12:19:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:58:35.334Z","description":"Castro made new demands during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit in Costa Rica on Wednesday","url":"https://time.com/3687347/castro-guantanamo-trade-embargo/","keywords":["Cuba","Cuba topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a7a278580c21480/69877c8606f2c17f27333abd/fidel-castro-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a7a278580c21480/69877c8606f2c17f27333abd/fidel-castro-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fidel Castro 2","caption":"Committees for the Defense Revolution museum in Havana, Dec. 2014.","creditText":"Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cuba/","name":"Cuba"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3687347/castro-guantanamo-trade-embargo/","name":"Castro Demands U.S. Hand Back Guantanamo Bay and End Trade Embargo"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Five Things You Should Know Before Traveling To Cuba","description":"The U.S. is only allowing travel to Cuba for government-approved reasons. Also, sorry — there’s a limit to how much alcohol and tobacco you can bring back","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/f1ZZxJ3O/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-16T18:39:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/f1ZZxJ3O.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3687347/castro-guantanamo-trade-embargo/","duration":"PT1M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3687347/castro-guantanamo-trade-embargo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```