Castro’s death follows a historic thawing of relations between Cuba and the United States with the announcement in mid-December that the countries planned to restore diplomatic and economic ties.
Six weeks after that announcement, Castro made his first comments about the deal, writing that he backs the negotiations even though he distrusts American politics.
“I don’t trust the policy of the United States, nor have I exchanged a word with them, but this does not mean I reject a pacific solution to the conflicts,” he wrote in a letter to a student federation read at the University of Havana.
“We will always defend cooperation and friendship with all the people of the world, including with our political adversaries,” he wrote.
The elder Castro made his last public appearance in January, attending an art studio opening in Havana. He was photographed entering the studio hunched over and using a cane. Later that month, however, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Castro and reported that then 87-year-old was “spiritually alert and physically very strong.”
Over the summer, Castro met with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as well as the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
