Fidel Castro Endorses Obama

Fidel Castro stepped aside as president of Cuba in February and has not been seen much since undergoing surgery in July 2006, but he is still very much a presence in the island nation he has turned over to his brother Raúl. He also is full of opinions, and on Monday he gave Senator Barack Obama his endorsement, calling him “the most progressive candidate to the U.S. Presidency” while also berating him for his plan to continue the trade embargo against Cuba. “Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor,” Castro said. “I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him.”Castro, 81, was reacting to Obama’s pledge last week to the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami to maintain the trade sanctions against Cuba as leverage to press for democratic change there. But Mr. Obama also promised to ease restrictions on travel to the island and sending money to relatives there. “Presidential candidate Obama’s speech may be formulated as follows: hunger for the nation, remittances as charitable handouts and visits to Cuba as propaganda for consumerism and the unsustainable way of life behind it,” Mr. Castro wrote in a column for Cuban newspapers, which was translated to English for a newspaper Web site, Granma Internacional. “I am not questioning Obama’s great intelligence, his debating skills or his work ethic,” Mr. Castro wrote. But, he added, “I am obliged to raise a number of delicate questions.” The Obama campaign declined to comment.