Raul Castro says Obama’s Cuba policy changes ‘minimal,’ onus not on Cuba for better relations

August 15th, 2009 Chavez back from Cuba for Fidel's 83rd birthdayCARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Friday he found his close ally and mentor Fidel Castro in good health during a visit to Cuba to celebrate the Cuban leader's 83rd birthday. Chavez says they shared a cake.

August 2nd, 2009 Raul Castro: Cuba won't undo communist systemHAVANA — Raul Castro announced Saturday that Cuba will cut spending on education and health care, potentially weakening the building blocks of its communist system in a bid to revive a floundering economy. The former defense minister who took over the presidency last year called state spending "simply unsustainable" and said the cash-strapped government would reorganize rural schools and scrutinize its free health care system in search of ways to save money.

May 14th, 2009 PRAGUE - Cuba's attitude to human rights will play the key role in the upcoming European Union's review of the bloc's position on relations with the communist island state, an EU official said Thursday. The evaluation 'will depend on the manner with which Cuba approaches human rights', said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country chairs the EU until June 30.

April 29th, 2009 Raul Castro: Onus not on Cuba for US relationsHAVANA — Raul Castro dismissed Barack Obama's policy changes toward Cuba as "achieving only the minimum," and said Wednesday that it is up to the U.S. — not Cuba — to do more to improve relations.

April 29th, 2009 Raul Castro: Obama's Cuba policy changes 'minimal'HAVANA — Raul Castro dismissed Barack Obama's policy changes toward Cuba as "achieving only the minimum," and said Wednesday that it is up to the U.S. — not Cuba — to do more to improve relations.

April 9th, 2009 HAVANA - Former Cuban president Fidel Castro has said he believes US President Barack Obama wants to improve relations with Cuba, but the US political reality will not make that possible. Castro said in an article that when one of the lawmakers, Bobby Rush, told him that Obama would need help from Cuba to end the five-decade chill in US-Cuban ties, he replied by observing 'that the objective realities' of the US are 'stronger than Obama's sincere intentions'.

April 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Former Cuban president Fidel Castro met Tuesday with three visiting members of the US Congress in what they called a sign that Cuba wants to open a new dialogue with Washington. After a two-hour meeting with Castro, Congresswoman Barbara Lee told reporters in Washington that she was convinced the Cubans want to talk with Washington about normalising relations.

February 6th, 2009 HAVANA - Cuban leader Fidel Castro has said that US President Barack Obama's politics was 'losing its virginity', Spanish news agency EFE reported Saturday. In the third article in two weeks criticising the actions of the new US president, Cuba's ex-president commented on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's statement that 'what interests president Obama is the Cuban-American community'.

January 29th, 2009 MOSCOW - Former Cuban president and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has demanded that the US unconditionally return the Guantanamo Bay military base to his country. In an article published Thursday on the CubaDebate website, the communist leader sharply criticised the new US administration and accused President Barack Obama of supporting Israel in its 'genocide' of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

January 29th, 2009 HAVANA - Cuba will not grant any political concessions to the US for a possible return of the Guantanamo Bay naval base, the country's ailing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has said. In an column titled 'Deciphering the thought of the new US president', posted on the government-run cubadebate.cu website, Castro wrote that US President Barack Obama had to return the territory without any conditions attached.

January 28th, 2009 MOSCOW - Raul Castro has begun the first official visit by a Cuban leader to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. He will be here from Jan 28 to Feb 4.

January 23rd, 2009 GUATEMALA CITY - Cuba has urged the new US administration of President Barack Obama to act fast towards improving relations between Washington and Havana, EFE news agency reported Saturday. 'We are ready to sit down at a table and talk in a civilized manner, but it is not up to Cuba to take the first step,' Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said at a press conference Friday in Guatemala City, where he was attending a meeting of foreign ministers from the Non-Aligned Movement.

January 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush Tuesday expressed solidarity with the Cuban people and assured them that one day they would be free from Raul Castro's 'cruel dictatorship', EFE reported.

January 8th, 2009 HAVANA - Cuban President Raul Castro has expressed confidence in bolstering ties between Havana and Tehran while meeting Iran's Industry and Mines Minister Ali Akbar Mezharabian, according to an official statement. Mezharabian, the special envoy of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, delivered a message from the Iranian leader for the Cuban president and his brother Fidel, and stressed Iran´s friendship and solidarity towards Cuba.

January 1st, 2009 SANTIAGO DE CUBA - Cuban President Raul Castro said Thursday that the Cuban revolution after 50 years was 'stronger than ever despite the obsessive and revengeful hate of the United States.' Despite the current difficult times, the revolutionary movement had moved barely a millimetre from its principles, the younger brother of the ailing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro said at the formal celebration of the anniversary. The 77-year-old president spoke in Santiago de Cuba, the southern town where Fidel Castro declared victory from city hall over the Fulgencio Batista regime on Jan 1, 1959.