Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Cuba says US unlikely to change policy toward the island soon
02-02-2007

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): A top Cuban official said Thursday he didn't expect any change in the near future in US policy toward the island, which is subjected to a 45-year-old US embargo.

"There is not the slightest doubt the current policy will continue for a while, as long as there is this man who stole the presidency," Parliamentary President Ricardo Alarcon said in reference to US President George W. Bush.

Speaking during a conference on education, Alarcon, who is in charge of designing Cuban policies toward the United States, also said he didn't expect the United States to change its stance even if opposition Democrats should win the 2008 presidential election.

"There is no reason to believe either that under a Democrat there would be any change in the the panorama of this half-century," said Alarcon in reference to the 48 years the communist government led by President Fidel Castro has been in power.

Washington has dismissed proposed legislation to ease the trade and economic embargo then US president John F. Kenedy had proclaimed on February 3, 1962.

"We have to focus on the reality that the changes need to take place on the island, not here," US Energy Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, the highest ranking Cuban-American in the US administration, said in Washington on Wednesday.

"The change needs to start in Cuba," said Gutierrez, who heads the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba tasked with exploring ways to hasten democratic transition in Cuba.

The two countries, whose relation has been marked by tension and confrontations since Castro took power in 1959, do not have formal diplomatic relations, but maintain "Interest Sections" in each other's capital.

Washington has dismissed calls for dialogue made by acting president Raul Castro, 75, insisting Cuba first needs to take steps toward democratic reform.

In the six months since Fidel Castro, 80, handed over power after undergoing surgery, his younger brother Raul has hinted at subtle changes but insisted Cuba would not stray from its revolutionary ideals.

When he appointed Raul to the top job, the older Castro said this was a provisional measure while he recovered from surgery.

But authorities have since toned down their initial insistence the president would eventually resume his functions.

The veteran revolutionary leader did not address the issue in video footage broadcast on Tuesday that showed him in a meeting with his Venezuelan friend and ally President Hugo Chavez.

But he did say his recovery was "far from being a lost battle."

Castro spoke slowly and softly, but while still frail, he looked healthier than in the previous pictures state-run Cuban television broadcast three months earlier.

Chavez said the meeting took place on Monday and lasted two hours.