Speaking the next day in Havana, Cuban President Raúl Castro pledged to improve the nation’s economy in the wake of the agreement. Castro also called on the United States to respect Cuba’s political system after decades of meddling.

Cuban President Raúl Castro: “In the same way that we have never demanded that the United States change its political system, we will demand respect for ours. … We can’t pretend that by improving ties with the Unites States, Cuba will renounce the ideas for which it has fought for more than a century, for which its people have shed a lot of blood and have run the biggest of risks.”