Castro confirms willingness to talk with America

Interim President Raul Castro told tens of thousands celebrating Cuba’s revolution yesterday that the nation suffered a serious blow when his brother Fidel fell ill a year ago, but the chaos the United States had long predicted never materialised.

Cuba’s 76-year-old acting president and defence minister took his brother’s place at Revolution Day festivities in Camaguey, a provincial capital of narrow colonial streets southeast of Havana.

“We could hardly have suspected what a hard blow was awaiting us,” the younger Castro said of Fidel’s illness.