Obama to Cuba: I'm here to 'bury' Cold War rivalry

US President Barack Obama has told Cubans in an unprecedented live television address that he came to their country to open a new chapter in the relations between Washington and Havana.

“I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas,” Obama said on Tuesday during the speech, delivered at the Great Theater in Havana and broadcast on the island nation's state-run television.

"Creo en el pueblo cubano," he said, then repeating himself in English: "I believe in the Cuban people."

"I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people,” he added, earning cheers and applause from the audience, which included Cuban President Raul Castro.

On the last day of his historic visit to Cuba, Obama called for a new direction of peace and friendship between the United States and Cuba.

The US president was in Cuba for a historic three-day visit along with his wife, two daughters, mother-in-law as well as a group of cabinet members, lawmakers and business leaders.  

In his live address, Obama called for Congress to lift the US economic embargo that has been in place for more than five decades against Cuba.

"It is an outdated burden on the Cuban people. It's a burden on the Americans who want to work and do business or invest here in Cuba," he said. "It's time to lift the embargo."

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and placed an official embargo against the country in 1962. 

The two countries became ideological foes soon after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power and their ties remained hostile even after the end of the Cold War.

The Republican-controlled US Congress has been a major opponent of normalization of ties as well as the embargo lift.

In order for the US embargo to be lifted, the Cuban government should continue to change its policies and rethink its handling of human rights issues, Obama said on Monday, speaking at a joint press conference with President Castro following their meeting in Havana. 

“The embargo’s going to end,” Obama said, noting even though “I can’t be entirely sure… the path is going to continue beyond my administration.”

In December 2014, Obama announced the US would normalize relations with Cuba.

The two countries have reopened embassies in Washington and Havana, and restored commercial air travel.

President Castro said on Monday full normalization of relations between America and Cuba depends on the US Congress lifting the embargo and shutting down a US military prison in Guantanamo Bay. He also said that the US needs to return Guantanamo Bay to Cuba.

In addition, Castro advised the United States not to criticize Cuba's human rights record since the US has its own long history of racial, economic inequality and human rights abuses.

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