U.S. says no Cuba policy change as Fidel goes
President Fidel Castro's departure will not change the Bush administration's Cuba policy and an embargo and other restrictions will remain as long as Castro's brother -- dubbed a "dictator lite" -- is in charge. U.S. officials and Cuba experts said...
President Fidel Castro's departure will not change the Bush administration's Cuba policy and an embargo and other restrictions will remain as long as Castro's brother -- dubbed a "dictator lite" -- is in charge.
U.S. officials and Cuba experts said with Raul Castro carrying on his brother's 49-year reign, there would be little chance of a shift in the isolation policy and hostile rhetoric that has marked U.S.-Cuba ties for nearly half a century.
The United States has been preparing in recent years for the departure of Castro, 81, dusting off a transition plan it hoped would lead to a new era in ties as the communist island moved toward democratic rule.
But the handover to Raul, whom the State Department calls a "dictator lite", has dampened hope of any major changes in Cuba that could lead to an opening with Washington.
"This is a succession from one tyrant to another. We shouldn't kid ourselves, while Fidel is alive, he's running the show," Cuban-born U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, said in an interview with Reuters.
Cuba experts said the Bush administration, whose own term ends in January, 2009, was also in a wait-and-see mode and any changes would come from the next U.S. president rather than the current White House.
"I don't think there will be any political opening in the short term under Raul," said Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program for the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, a Washington think-tank.
Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have suggested they might lift the decades-old trade embargo if the island country set up democratic reforms, while Republican front-runner John McCain said the United States must keep the pressure on Cuba's government.
Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Havana in 1961, two years after Fidel Castro seized power in a revolution and turned Cuba into a Soviet ally.
U.S. officials and Cuba experts said with Raul Castro carrying on his brother's 49-year reign, there would be little chance of a shift in the isolation policy and hostile rhetoric that has marked U.S.-Cuba ties for nearly half a century.
The United States has been preparing in recent years for the departure of Castro, 81, dusting off a transition plan it hoped would lead to a new era in ties as the communist island moved toward democratic rule.
But the handover to Raul, whom the State Department calls a "dictator lite", has dampened hope of any major changes in Cuba that could lead to an opening with Washington.
"This is a succession from one tyrant to another. We shouldn't kid ourselves, while Fidel is alive, he's running the show," Cuban-born U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, said in an interview with Reuters.
Cuba experts said the Bush administration, whose own term ends in January, 2009, was also in a wait-and-see mode and any changes would come from the next U.S. president rather than the current White House.
"I don't think there will be any political opening in the short term under Raul," said Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program for the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, a Washington think-tank.
Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have suggested they might lift the decades-old trade embargo if the island country set up democratic reforms, while Republican front-runner John McCain said the United States must keep the pressure on Cuba's government.
Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Havana in 1961, two years after Fidel Castro seized power in a revolution and turned Cuba into a Soviet ally.