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Cuba presses US to end sanctions 'No change' from Obama, says Cuba
(about 15 hours later)
Cuba has said US President Barack Obama is not doing enough to end his country's 47-year trade embargo against the island. Cuba has accused US President Barack Obama of not doing enough to end the US trade embargo against the island despite his promise to improve ties.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the policy was "absurd" and should be lifted without conditions. Earlier this week, Mr Obama renewed the embargo for another year.
His comments come a day after Mr Obama renewed the sanctions for another year. In the first official Cuban reaction, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the embargo was obsolete and unacceptable, and should be lifted.
Relations between the two countries have eased in recent months, with Cuban Americans now allowed to visit relatives on the island at any time. His comments came as the two countries prepared to hold talks on resuming direct postal links.
Speaking at a news conference in Havana, Mr Rodriguez said the US sanctions were "part of the policy of total unilateral aggression and isolation" and should be "lifted unilaterally". On Monday, President Obama extended the US trade embargo on Cuba for another year, saying it was in the US national interest.
"Obama is a president who was elected on a platform of change - Americans voted for him because he promised change. Where is the change in the blockade against Cuba?" he said. The trade ban would stay in place, Mr Obama said, until the communist government in Cuba freed political prisoners and improved human rights.
Bargaining tool Reacting to the move on Wednesday, Mr Rodriguez said the embargo, which Cuba estimates has cost it $96bn since being imposed in 1962, should be ended without conditions.
He also warned that Cuba was not prepared to make any political or policy concessions in order to improve relations. "Obama was a president elected on a platform of change. Where are the changes in the blockade against Cuba," Mr Rodriguez told a news conference in Havana.
But the BBC's Michael Voss in Havana said the Cubans appear keen not to inflame the improving relations. Mail talks
Mr Rodriguez described Mr Obama as well-intentioned and intelligent, and also reiterated Cuba's offer to hold direct talks with the Obama administration. Mr Rodriguez said the US president was "well-intentioned and intelligent" and that the US had adopted a less aggressive tone towards Havana.
The comments were the first official response to Mr Obama's announcement on Tuesday that he was extending the sanctions as it was in America's national interest to do so. He said moves by the Obama administration to ease restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to travel to Cuba or send money there were "positive" but had nothing to do with the embargo.
Under the US legislation, the embargo can only be lifted when Cuba is deemed to have begun a democratic transition. It was not up to Cuba to make concessions, he said. "The policy is unilateral and should be lifted unilaterally."
The Obama administration sees the trade embargo as a bargaining tool to America's only Communist-run country towards making political and human rights reforms, says our correspondent. Mr Rodriguez renewed an offer to hold direct talks with President Obama, but Cuba "would not discuss its internal affairs with with anyone, not with the US nor with any group of countries".
On Thursday, US and Cuban delegations are due to meet in Havana about the possible resumption of direct postal services between the two nations.
"These are really exploratory talks and they are very technical in nature...We see it as a potential avenue for improving direct communication between our two countries," state department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
Direct services were suspended in 1963 and currently post must go through third countries, meaning it can take several weeks to arrive.