By Jeff Franks
HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro put a damper on rising hopes for better U.S.-Cuba relations by saying U.S. President Barack Obama had misinterpreted his brother's apparently conciliatory words.
The 82-year-old Castro also signalled that Cuba may be unwilling to make concessions to end 50 years of hostilities with the United States because the Cuban government believes it is not to blame for their troubled history.
He criticized Obama for supporting the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, saying he had now "made it his own."
Analysts said Castro's comments, published on the Internet and on Wednesday in Cuba's state-run press, were a blow to Obama's carrot-and-stick strategy with the communist-led island but had not killed the possibility of U.S.-Cuba rapprochement.
"There's no doubt the president interpreted badly the declaration by Raul," said Castro, referring to a statement by his younger brother, President Raul Castro, on Thursday that Cuba was prepared to discuss "everything" with the United States, including historically prickly issues such as political prisoners and human rights.
Raul Castro's words sent hopes for a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations soaring when the Obama administration took them as a favourable Cuban response to Obama's earlier decision to grant Cuban Americans the right to travel and send remittances freely to their homeland.
Obama, speaking in a news conference on Sunday at the close of a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, called President Castro's comments an "advance" and urged Cuba to take other steps such freeing political prisoners and reducing the fees it charges to change dollars into Cuban money.
Obama said Washington would make further changes in response to what Cuba does.
U.S. AT FAULT
But Fidel Castro cited a speech by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega at the summit in which he recounted telling former U.S. President Jimmy Carter that Washington, not Nicaragua, had to change if it wanted better relations because Nicaragua had never done anything against the United States.
Ortega, Castro wrote, stated the situation "very clearly."
It was the second time Castro had cited the Ortega tale in a post-summit column.
President Castro, who has not spoken publicly since his Thursday comments, also suggested that Cuba send political prisoners to the United States in exchange for five Cuban agents being held in U.S. prisons.
Fidel Castro described the offer, which Raul Castro had made before, not as a signal from Cuba, but as "a show of courage and confidence in the principles of the revolution."
Castro also dismissed the idea that Cuba charges too much to exchange remittances.
Obama, while saying he wants improved relations with Cuba, maintains support for the embargo, arguing that it can be used as leverage for Cuban change.
"He did not invent it, but he made it his own just like 10 other presidents of the United States. You can predict certain failure for him on that road, just as for all his predecessors," Castro said.
Washington attorney Robert Muse, who specializes in Cuba issues, agreed with Castro.
"Anyone who believes that Raul was actually declaring 'we will meet their conditions' misunderstood," he said.
"I've seen all (U.S.) legislative attempts to coerce Cuba, I've seen them fail every time," he said. "Cuba believes its resistance to U.S. demands has been the central factor of the preservation of the revolution for 50 years," he said.
But Cuba expert Phil Peters at the Lexington Institute in Washington said there was still room for movement in U.S.-Cuba relations, pointing out that Fidel Castro did not change the government's position that Cuba was open to dialogue.
"To me what's important is that Raul Castro said that Cuba is willing to talk, and the Obama administration has interest in this as well," he said. "I don't see that this statement affects that."
Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since falling ill in July 2006, but maintains a powerful voice through prolific column writing. He ruled Cuba for 49 years before ceding power to Raul Castro in February 2008.
(Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Miami; Editing by David Storey)
