WASHINGTON (AFP) — White House hopefuls Tuesday said Fidel Castro's exit from power was long overdue but insufficient to bring democratic freedom to communist Cuba.
Democrat Barack Obama said the United States should consider easing its long-standing trade embargo on Cuba -- but only if Castro's departure as president heralds democratic change.
"Fidel Castro's stepping down is an essential first step, but it is sadly insufficient in bringing freedom to Cuba," the Illinois senator said in a carefully worded statement that was likely mindful of the vocal role played by Cuban-Americans in the swing state of Florida.
Obama called for the swift release of Cuban political prisoners and said the island's future should be "determined by the Cuban people and not by an anti-democratic successor regime."
"If the Cuban leadership begins opening Cuba to meaningful democratic change, the United States must be prepared to begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five decades," he added.
Republican front-runner John McCain said Castro's resignation was "nearly half a century overdue."
"Yet freedom for the Cuban people is not yet at hand, and the Castro brothers clearly intend to maintain their grip on power," he said. Raul Castro has been serving as interim president while his brother battles ill-health.
"Cuba's transition to democracy is inevitable; it is a matter of when -- not if," McCain said, calling on the US government to "help hasten the sparking of freedom in Cuba."
The ailing Castro, the target of enduring vitriol from Cuban exiles concentrated in Florida, has himself intervened repeatedly in the US race.
In an editorial published Wednesday, the 81-year-old leader took another swipe at McCain as being "the pawn of that mafia" of conservative Cuban-Americans.
Castro has angrily denied McCain's assertion that communist Cuban agents tortured some of his friends in the Vietnam War. The Republican was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton."
In August, Castro chastised Obama and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for calling for democracy in his country -- but also touted them as a winning combination.
Obama has promised a more open policy towards Cuba, to allow unrestricted travel to the island and money remittances from Cuban-Americans.
Clinton's campaign has said the New York senator does not favor any major change in Cuba policy until there is democratic change, and attacked Obama for being willing to meet Cuba's leader and other US foes.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Tuesday he did not expect the decades-old US embargo of Cuba to lifted "anytime soon."
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