It's the US that needs to make 'gestures,' not Cuba, says Raul Castro

WASHINGTON -- Raul Castro jousted with Hillary Clinton's State Department Wednesday over who should be the first to make nice on improving relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Echoing his ailing older brother Fidel, Cuban President Raul Castro said "Cuba has not imposed sanctions against the U.S." and "therefore it is not Cuba that has to make gestures."

At a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana, Castro brushed off President Obama's easing of travel and money transfers by Cuban-Americans to the island as "fine, positive but [they] only achieved the minimum."

Obama and Clinton have said they expected "signals" from Cuba, including the release of political prisoners, before beginning a dialogue on improving ties.

But Castro said "we are willing to talk about everything with the United States, in equality of conditions, but not to negotiate our sovereignty, nor our political and social system, the right to self-determination, nor our internal affairs."

"Look, we're interested in a dialogue with Cuba," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. "But I think the international community wants to see some steps, from Havana, to see, to gauge, how serious the government there is."

"We do have an embargo" on Cuba, Wood said. "There is no plan at this point to lift that embargo, but we do want to do what we can to support the Cuban people."

Despite the impasse, Cuban and U.S. officials last week began informal talks in Washington to explore ways of improving relations that have been hostile since Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution.