US President Barack Obama ruled out that his government will make new opening gestures in its Cuba policy until the island’s authorities don’t show progress in civil and political freedoms, according to the president’s statements to journalists in the White House over the weekend, reported IPS.

Obama lifted the restrictions on travel and sending of remittances for the Cuban-American community this year, and resumed bilateral migration talks.

However, the president has yet to do anything to free ordinary US citizens to travel to neighboring Cuba or to end the half-century US economic blockade that punishes Cubans across-the-board.

Obama’s latest statements put a damper on hopes that rapprochement on a large scale could be near; something former President Fidel Castro had predicted when Barack took office.

Source: Havana Times