-
Fidel Castro - Source: Reuters
Cuba's Fidel Castro says President Barack Obama is trying to make positive changes in the United States, but is being fought at every turn by right-wingers who hate him because he is black.
In an unusually conciliatory column in the state-run media, Castro said Obama had inherited many problems from his predecessor, George 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."
He says Obama does 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."
"I don't have the slightest doubt that the racist right will do everything possible to wear him down, blocking his program to get him out of the game one way or another, at the least political cost."
Castro, who writes regular commentaries for Cuba's state-run media, has criticized Obama, complimented him occasionally and said that he is watching him closely to see if he means what he says about changing US policy toward Cuba.
His latest column comes during a visit to Cuba by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson that has stirred speculation that he may try to push US-Cuba relations forward.
Richardson has been a diplomatic trouble-shooter in nations with which the US has poor relations.
In 1996 he negotiated with Castro for the release of three Cuban political prisoners.
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.
He appeared on Cuban television on Sunday for the first time in 14 months meeting with Venezuelan students.
World News Video
-
Dangerous rush to Everest summit (1:59)
-
Dozens killed in Syrian massacre (2:09)
-
'King of Romance' competes in Eurovision (1:46)
