Raul Castro to Sean Penn: he'd meet Obama at Gitmo

By GottaLaff

Barack Obama, Sean Penn and Raul Castro? All in one story? Start your engines, Righties:

Cuban President Raul Castro said in an interview released Wednesday that he would like to meet President-elect Barack Obama on "neutral ground" — and he suggested the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

The Cuban leader's offer came in a rare interview in Havana with actor-director Sean Penn, who wrote about it for the Dec. 15 edition of The Nation magazine. The article was released on the magazine's Web site Wednesday.

Penn asked if Castro would meet with Obama in Washington. The Cuban president said he "would have to think about it," but that it would not be fair for either leader to go to the other's territory. Instead he suggested the base at Guantanamo. [...]

Obama has said he is willing to meet with Raul Castro without preconditions, and that after taking office on Jan. 20 he would "immediately" lift all restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba. Under tough rules imposed under President George W. Bush, Cuban Americans can now visit their relatives on the island only once every three years.

But Obama has said he would not support lifting the embargo until Cuba releases all political prisoners.

"We must meet and begin to solve our problems, and at the end of the meeting, we could give the president a gift ... we could send him home with the American flag that waves over Guantanamo Bay," Castro said.

Raul Castro is largely seen as more pragmatic and conciliatory than his fiery older brother Fidel, and has offered to meet with U.S. officials several times since replacing his ailing sibling in mid-2006.

Cuba's main focus in such a meeting would be on normalizing trade, Castro said.