Cuba, U.S. meet for first time on mutual compensations

Cuba and the United States on Tuesday held their first talks to discuss mutual compensations for Cuba's nationalization of American assets and the damages derived from the U.S. economic blockade on the island.

Cuba has put the damages at 833.7 billion U.S. dollars based on the value of gold, which it said now amounts to 121 billion dollars at current value.

Cuba also laid claims on another 181 billion dollars for "human damage" as a result of the half-century economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, the United States asks for 1.9 billion dollars for the properties of about 6,000 American citizens nationalized by the government of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the first years of the 1959-1961 revolution.

The U.S. side said the sum has amounted to about 8 billion dollars at current prices.

Both countries decided to hold further discussions on a date to be determined, said the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

The issue of compensation is one of the main obstacles hindering the process of the normalization of political ties between the two countries, which restored diplomatic relation on July 20.

Cuba also demands the lifting of the 53-year-old economic blockade and the return of the Guantanamo Bay occupied by the United States as a naval base at the eastern tip of the island. Endi