Raúl Castro remains First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (in office since 19 April 2011). Raúl Castro said in a 2008 interview: "The American people are among our closest neighbors. We should respect each other. We have never held anything against the American people. Good relations would be mutually advantageous. Perhaps we cannot solve all of our problems, but we can solve a good many of them." On 10 December 2013, Castro, in a significant move, shook hands with and greeted American President Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in Johannesburg. On 17 December 2014, Castro and Obama made separate announcements that efforts to normalize relations between the two nations would begin with the re-establishment of embassies in Havana and Washington. The embassies had previously been dissolved in 1961 after Cuba became closely allied with the USSR. The rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba was facilitated by Argentine-born Pope Francis, who allowed the Vatican to be used for secret negotiations. There were simultaneous public announcements by Castro and Obama about the progress toward normalization. On 20 July 2015, Cuba and the United States officially resumed full diplomatic relations with sections of "Cuban interests" in Washington, D.C., and "U.S. interests" in Havana upgraded to embassies. On 20 March 2016, Obama made a visit to Cuba to meet with Castro. It was the first visit of a sitting U.S. president to Cuba in 88 years. Speaking in 2017, Raúl Castro was highly critical of Donald Trump's proposition of the Mexican wall and restrictive trade policy. He called his plans egotistical and for the border, irrational. "You can't contain poverty, catastrophes, and migrants with walls, but with cooperation, understanding, and peace," Castro said. The U.S. President-elect also targeted Raúl in a tweet, saying, "If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal". Raúl Castro surprised a top American envoy in September 2017 while discussing recent sonic attacks on American diplomatic staff. He denied involvement but allowed FBI rare access to investigate the incident that has left 21 people with hearing loss and brain damage. Castro married Vilma Espín, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineering student and the daughter of a wealthy lawyer for the Bacardi rum company, on 26 January 1959. Vilma became president of the Cuban Federation of Women. They have three daughters (Déborah, Mariela, and Nilsa) and one son (Alejandro) Castro Espín.