Just as Washington and Havana seemed to be on the track to ending one of the last vestiges of the Cold War and reestablishing relations, Cuba is reminding the White House of a long-held demand:  President Raul Castro wants the US return the military base at Guantanamo Bay.

“The re-establishment of diplomatic relations is the start of a process of normalizing bilateral relations, but this will not be possible while the blockade still exists, while they don't give back the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo naval base,” President Castro said at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Costa Rica.

The US Naval Base has been there at Guantanamo Bay since 1898.  But Cuba has been demanding the return of the occupied land since the revolution in 1959.  Raul also demanded that the US end anti-Castro radio and television broadcasts blasted into Cuba and deliver “just compensation to our people for the human and economic damage that they’ve suffered” under the economic embargo.

It’s up to the republican-controlled congress to end the economic embargo, but the Obama Administration has already loosened a range of measures designed to increase economic ties with Cuba, including removing most barriers that prevented Americans from traveling there, banking bans, and exports to the island.  All of which is in line with Washington’s unchanged long-term goal: ending one party rule in Havana and opening the state-run economy.