Cuban politician dismisses Obama olive branch

Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon dismissed President Barack Obama’s recent overtures to Cuba and said for the first time that the new US administration’s stance is “the continuation of an illegal, unjustifiable and failed policy”.

Mr Obama suggested it may be time for a new beginning with Cuba, and the White House authorised unlimited travel and money transfers for Americans with relatives in Cuba.

But his administration has said it would like Cuba to respond by making small political and social changes to its single-party communist system.

“In other words Cuba must change and behave in accordance with Washington’s wishes,” Mr Alarcon said at the close of a Cuban academic conference in Canada.

“That attitude is not only the continuation of an illegal, unjustifiable and failed policy, it is also the consequence of a profound misconception, a false perception of itself that lies as the foundation of the US role in the world.”

The US has long sought what it considers real change from Cuba in human rights, free speech, free markets and democratic government.

Last month, President Raul Castro said Cuba was willing to discuss “everything” with the US, leading to hopes that a door was opening to a new relationship.

However, former President Fidel Castro insists that Cuba should make no concessions in return for better US ties.

The Obama administration has said it has no plans to lift the embargo which bans nearly all trade with Cuba. The island’s government blames those sanctions for frequent shortages of food, medicine, farming and transportation machinery and other basics.

Mr Alarcon said Mr Obama’s gestures were dictated by growing domestic demand and do not amount to much.

“Essentially he lifted newer restrictions that George W. Bush had imposed on Cuban-American travellers,” Mr Alarcon said.