Thursday, December 14, 2006

by Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON, USA (Reuters): The United States on Wednesday rebuffed a recent offer by Cuba for talks and said Havana had become even more hard-line since Raul Castro stepped in for his ailing brother Fidel Castro.

Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon, the top US diplomat for Latin America, made clear Washington would only deal with Raul Castro's government when it showed commitment to a peaceful transition to democracy and not before.

"In Cuba there is not that commitment to democracy," Shannon said in a briefing to reporters.

Earlier this month, Raul Castro, Cuba's acting president, made a direct offer of talks with the United States. The younger Castro became acting president after his brother underwent emergency intestinal surgery in July.

Shannon said there had been a greater crackdown on dissent since the younger Castro effectively took over.

"It is a transfer of power that is in an uncomfortable moment. With Fidel still alive (and Raul in place), the regime has actually become harder and more orthodox and is not in a position to signal in any meaningful way what direction it will take post-Fidel," said Shannon.

"We have not been able to detect any political figures who could be reformers," he added.

Shannon said he did not have an update on Castro's health, but the fact that Castro had failed to turn up for his own birthday celebration this month was "significant."

As Castro's end neared, he said the regime would likely become even tougher. "It has shown a willingness to respond to any action in Cuban society that might challenge the state and that is not a good sign."

DIFFERENT APPROACHES

The United States is grappling with how to tackle Cuba after Fidel's death and Shannon conceded he was getting lots of advice from many people on how to deal with Cuba.

"There is genuine and honest disagreement with how you best approach a regime like this," he said.

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.

Communications were restored with the opening of low-level diplomatic missions called interest sections in 1978. However a strict US embargo is in place.

The Bush administration is debating over whether to ease some restrictions against Cuba post-Castro, particularly if political prisoners are freed.

US diplomats in Havana said recently that if Raul Castro were to free 59 of the 75 dissidents being held after a 2003 crackdown, then Washington might ease some sanctions.

But Shannon said the United States had laid down four goals that would have to be met before there was any change.

All political prisoners would have to be freed, human rights guaranteed, trade unions allowed to form and concrete moves made toward elections.

"The first of those four - freeing political prisoners - is obviously an important step towards a political opening, but we want them all free," said Shannon.

Phil Peters, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute, a thinktank in Virginia, said the Bush administration's approach of not dealing with Raul Castro was counterproductive.

He said there was no reason why the United States could not treat Cuba as it did other nations with whom it had fundamental disagreements but where there were important common interests.

"I think what they should do is argue about human rights but at the same time try to make progress on issues such as fighting drug trafficking, environmental protection, military to military relations and expanding relations between our two societies," said Peters.

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