In a televised response this weekend to Barack Obama’s announcement of sweeping changes in US policy towards Cuba, Raúl Castro was in no doubt who was the victor: “We won the war,” he said.
One week after the US president said he would open talks about establishing full diplomatic relations with the island nation and reopen its Havana embassy, many are asking the question: is the Cuban leader right?
Nicolás Maduro, president of Venezuela, Cuba’s closest regional ally, certainly thinks so. “It’s a victory for Fidel,” he said of the US plan to ease trade sanctions and, ultimately, end Washington’s more than half-century embargo against Havana.