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Cyril Ramaphosa

JOHANNESBURG/HAVANA. — Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has taken a commercial flight for his family holiday in Havana, Cuba, City Press reported yesterday. He was also believed to be travelling without his security detail. A government official told the newspaper that Ramaphosa was “rich” and “he won’t be using any state money,” even though he wasentitled to use an official aircraft.

Government leaders were entitled to use an SA Air Force or chartered jet once a year for their annual leave, due to “security concerns”.

It was unclear which airline Ramaphosa was using, although Air France and British Airways were the most popular choice of travel between South Africa to Cuba.

The newspaper reported that despite allegations that the South African government was involved in facilitating discussions between Cuba and the United States about easing relations between them, DP Ramaphosa would not be involved in official meetings during his visit to the country.

US President Barack Obama announced this week that relations between the two countries would be eased in an attempt towards diplomacy.

Meanwhile, President Raúl Castro declared victory for the Cuban Revolution on Saturday in a wide-ranging speech, thanking President Obama for “a new chapter” while also reaffirming that restored relations with the United States did not mean the end of Communist rule in Cuba.

In a televised speech before Parliament and a group of favoured guests — including Elián González, the centre of a tug of war in 2000 between Cuban exiles and Havana, and the three men convicted of spying in the United States who were released as part of the historic agreement announced on Wednesday — President Castro alternated between conciliatory and combative statements directed at the United States.

He stoked the flames of Cuban nationalism, declaring near the end of his statement, “We won the war.”

But he also praised President Obama for starting the biggest change in United States-Cuba policy in more than 50 years.

“The Cuban people are grateful,” he said, for President Obama’s decision “to remove the obstacles to our relations.”

He added that all issues and disputes between Cuba and the United States would be on the table in coming discussions about re-establishing formal diplomatic ties between the two countries.

But he offered no immediate concessions to demands for improvement in Cuba’s human rights record.

“We are willing to discuss all issues on the basis of equality and reciprocity. In the same way that we have never suggested that US change its political system, we will demand respect for ours,” he concluded.

As he has done since he took over from his brother Fidel in 2006, President Castro prioritised economics. — Sapa/NY Times/Prensa Latina.