Castro says Obama steps positive, but more needed

By Jeff Franks

HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday praised the Obama administration for lifting U.S. restrictions on family travel to Cuba, but said more changes were needed in U.S. policy toward the island.

"The measure of easing the restrictions on trips is positive although minimal. Many others are needed," Castro wrote in a column published on a Cuban government website.

The reclusive 82-year-old Castro criticized in particular the U.S. policy of granting Cuban emigres almost automatic residency if they reach American soil, which encourages Cubans to leave their communist-run country by sea.

Castro's comments came in his second column of the day, after he complained in his first one that the White House had done nothing to end the 47-year U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, vowing that Havana would not beg for it to be lifted.

"We do not have the slightest desire to harm Obama," Castro said. "He doesn't have responsibility for what occurred and I'm sure he won't commit the atrocities of (former President George W.) Bush," he said.

Castro ceded power last year to his younger brother and now President Raul Castro due to illness, but he remains a powerful voice through his columns.

His columns have been the only official Cuban response to Monday's announcement by President Barack Obama granting Cuban Americans the right to travel freely to Cuba and removing limits on how much money they can send to family there.

Obama's steps were a shift from policy under Bush, who tightened sanctions against Cuba in a failed bid to bring about political changes to the one-party state.