Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro complained today the United States had done nothing to end its trade embargo against Cuba and vowed that the communist-led island would not beg for it to be lifted.
Castro's words, published in a column in state-run media, were the first official Cuban response to measures announced by President Barack Obama yesterday lifting restrictions on Cuban American family travel and remittances to Cuba.
"Not one word was said about the blockade [embargo], which is the most cruel of the [US] measures [against Cuba]," Castro wrote of the Obama announcement.
He described the 47-year-old US embargo against his country as a form of "genocide" that hurt Cuba's economy and caused death and suffering by denying medical equipment and drugs to the communist-led island.
But, he added: "Cuba has resisted and will resist. It will never extend its hands to beg."
"It will go forward with its head high, cooperating with its Latin American and Caribbean brothers," wrote the 82-year-old Castro.
Monday's measures removed all limits on travel by Cuban Americans to their homeland and how much money they can send to relatives in Cuba. They also did away with some restrictions for US telecommunications companies, opening the way for them to offer services to Cuba to promote a "freer flow of information", U.S. officials said.
The White House announcement came ahead of a Summit of the Americas that starts on Friday in Trinidad and Tobago, where Obama is expected to come under fire from regional leaders over the US Cuba policy, which critics say is obsolete.
White House spokesmen said the new measures were meant to help Cuban families and promote democracy and human rights in Cuba.