Yesterday, Fidel Castro celebrated his birthday by announcing that the United States owed Cuba "many millions of dollars" because the decades-long trade embargo.

Castro spoke out in an essay published in local media a day before US Secretary of State John Kerry makes a historic visit to Cuba to reopen the US embassy as part of the countries' restoration of diplomatic relations.

The trade embargo that the United States slapped on communist Cuba in 1962, three years after Castro seized power by ousting a US-backed regime, remains in effect despite the thaw.

Castro wrote: "Cuba is owed compensation equivalent to damages, which total many millions of dollars, as our country has stated with irrefutable arguments and data in all of its speeches at the United Nations."

President Obama wants Congress to lift the trade embargo, but many Republicans are opposed, demanding that Cuba's human rights record improve before lifting it.

Castro did not go into detail about exactly what the U.S. owes Cuba nor did he mention Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to reopen the embassy.

On Friday, the U.S. flag will once again fly over the American Embassy in Cuba.