Castro says Obama steps positive
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday praised the Obama
administration for lifting US restrictions on family travel to Cuba, but
said more changes were needed in US policy towards the island.
"The measure of easing the restrictions on trips is positive although
minimal. Many others are needed," Castro wrote in a column published on
a Cuban government website.
The reclusive 82-year-old Castro criticized in particular the US
policy of granting Cuban emigres almost automatic residency if they
reach American soil, which encourages Cubans to leave their
communist-run country by sea.
Castro's comments came in his second column of the day, after he
complained in his first one that the White House had done nothing to end
the 47-year US trade embargo against Cuba, vowing that Havana would not
beg for it to be lifted.
"We do not have the slightest desire to harm Obama," Castro said. "He
doesn't have responsibility for what occurred and I'm sure he won't
commit the atrocities of (former President George W.) Bush," he said.
Castro ceded power last year to his younger brother and now President
Raul Castro due to illness, but he remains a powerful voice through his
columns.
His columns have been the only official Cuban response to Monday's
announcement by President Barack Obama granting Cuban Americans the
right to travel freely to Cuba and removing limits on how much money
they can send to family there.
Obama's steps were a shift from policy under Bush, who tightened
sanctions against Cuba in a failed bid to bring about political changes
to the one-party state. Reuters |