'Healthy and energetic' Fidel Castro holds talks with US politicians

The former Cuban president Fidel Castro yesterday met members of the US Congress in an attempt to improve relations between Cuba and Washington. Castro–who was described as "very healthy" and "very energetic"–asked what he could do to help the US president, Barack Obama, improve bilateral relations. Representative Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, said Castro talked with her and two other members of the congressional black caucus for nearly two hours yesterday. The meeting has been seen as a sign that Cuba is willing to discuss better relations between it and the US. "We believe it is time to open dialogue and discussion with Cuba," Lee told a news conference in Washington. "Cubans do want dialogue. They do want talks. They do want normal relations." Lee said the group would present its findings to the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, as well as White House and state department officials. The California Democrat Laura Richardson said Castro "looked directly into our eyes" and asked how Cuba could help Obama in his efforts to change the course of US foreign policy. Richardson said she had the impression that the 82-year-old wanted to see improvements in his lifetime, adding that he was "very healthy, very energetic, very clear thinking". The talks came a day after the full delegation of six representatives spent more than four hours in talks with the Cuban president, Raúl Castro, in his first encounter with US officials since he formally replaced his brother nearly 14 months ago. Obama has ordered an assessment of US policy toward the communist nation, and some members of Congress are pushing to lift a ban on Americans visiting the island. Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006. Although he gave up his presidential duties after becoming ill, he remains an influential force. In a column posted on a government website last night, Castro wrote about his meeting with the US representatives, saying Cuban leaders "weren't aggressors, nor did we threaten the United States". "Cuba did not have any alternative but to take the initiative," he said. He applauded the delegation for "the interest and depth with which they expounded on their points of view and the quality of their simple and profound words". Jeffrey Davidow, the White House adviser for this month's Summit of the Americas, which Obama will attend, said the US president had no plans to lift the 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba but would soon ease travel and financial restrictions. Bills in both houses of the US Congress would effectively bar any president from prohibiting Americans from travelling to Cuba except in extreme cases such as war. Lee predicted that the measures would be approved, but said they would not spell the end of the embargo. "This would be a wonderful step, allowing American citizens the right to travel to Cuba, but much would follow after that," she added.