HAVANA – President Barack Obama is trying to make positive changes in the United States, according to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he is black.
In a conciliatory column in the state-run media yesterday, Mr Castro wrote that Mr Obama inherited many problems from George W Bush, and was trying to resolve them. But the “powerful extreme right won’t be happy with anything that diminishes their prerogatives in the slightest way”.
Mr Obama did not want to change the US political and economic system, but “in spite of that, the extreme right hates him for being African-American and fights what the president does to improve the deteriorated image of that country”, Mr Castro wrote.
“I don’t have the slightest doubt that the racist right will do everything possible to wear him down, blocking his programme to get him out of the game one way or another, at the least political cost,” he claimed.
Mr Castro, who writes regular commentaries for Cuba’s state-run media, has criticised Mr Obama and complimented him occasionally, and said he is watching the US president to see whether he means what he says about changing US policy towards Cuba.
His latest column has come during a visit to Cuba by New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, and speculation has resulted that he may be trying to push US-Cuba relations forward.
Mr Richardson has been a diplomatic trouble-shooter in states with which the US has fraught relations.
Mr Obama has eased the long-standing US trade embargo against the communist-led island. However, he has said the embargo will be lifted only if Cuba shows progress on political prisoners and on human rights issues.
Cuban president Raul Castro has said he is happy to discuss these issues but will make no unilateral concessions.
Mr Obama has been criticised by anti-embargo groups for moving too slowly on Cuban policy.
Fidel Castro (83) ran Cuba for 49 years after taking power in a 1959 revolution, but stepped down last year so Raul Castro, his younger brother, could succeed him.
He has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006, but still plays a behind-the-scenes role in government and maintains a high profile through his writings.
He appeared on Cuban television on Sunday for the first time in 14 months, meeting Venezuelan students.
He seemed in good health as he smiled and talked with the students in an appearance some experts believe was aimed at shoring up support for his brother and the government at a time when Cuba is in deep economic crisis. – (Reuters)