French President François Hollande met with retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his brother and current president, Raul Castro, on Monday during a historic visit to the communist island.
Hollande met for an hour with Fidel Castro, 88, who led Cuba’s revolution during the 1950s and acted as the country’s president for more than three decades.
“I had before me a man who made history. There is a debate on what could be his place, his responsibilities. But coming to Cuba, I wanted to meet Fidel Castro,” Hollande told reporters before attending an official welcoming ceremony. He also met with Raul Castro, who took over when his brother retired in 2008 due to poor health.
Hollande is the first French president to visit Cuba in more than a century, and is also the first Western head of state to make the trip since Havana and Washington announced in December plans to normalise relations for the first time in more than half a century.
“[Hollande] wanted this visit to be as significant and symbolic as possible, and this indeed did happen since he visited both Fidel and Raul Castro,” FRANCE 24’s special correspondent James André reported from Cuba’s capital Havana.
“He was received by the former leader and father of the revolution [Fidel Castro] at his private residence with his wife and two of his children … Then he went on to visit Raul Castro, the current head of state, and there were discussions of human rights, the situation of the island, the opening of the island. This was one of the main issues of this visit … to position France centre-stage as far as business and contracts are concerned.”
Source: France 24
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