In Cuba, former President Fidel Castro has criticized Senator Barack Obama for vowing to continue the US embargo if he’s elected to the White House. Speaking last week before the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami, Obama said he would open diplomacy with Cuba but maintain the embargo as a threat to win Cuban reforms.

Sen. Barack Obama: “Never in the lives of two generations of Cubans has the people of Cuba known democracy. This is the terrible and tragic status quo that we have known for half a century of elections that are anything but free or fair, of dissidents locked away in dark prison cells for the crime of speaking the truth. I won’t stand for this injustice, you will not stand for this injustice, and together we will stand up for freedom in Cuba. That will be my commitment as president of the United States of America.”

In response, Castro wrote that while Obama is “the most advanced candidate in the presidential race,” his plan represents “a formula for hunger for [Cuba].”