**Cuba has said US President Barack Obama is not doing enough to end his country’s 47-year trade embargo against the island.**Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the policy was “absurd” and should be lifted without conditions.
His comments come a day after Mr Obama renewed the sanctions for another year.
Relations between the two countries have eased in recent months, with Cuban Americans now allowed to visit relatives on the island at any time.
Speaking at a news conference in Havana, Mr Rodriguez said the US sanctions were “part of the policy of total unilateral aggression and isolation” and should be “lifted unilaterally”.
“Obama is a president who was elected on a platform of change - Americans voted for him because he promised change. Where is the change in the blockade against Cuba” he said.
Bargaining tool
He also warned that Cuba was not prepared to make any political or policy concessions in order to improve relations.
But the BBC’s Michael Voss in Havana said the Cubans appear keen not to inflame the improving relations.
Mr Rodriguez described Mr Obama as well-intentioned and intelligent, and also reiterated Cuba’s offer to hold direct talks with the Obama administration.
The comments were the first official response to Mr Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that he was extending the sanctions as it was in America’s national interest to do so.
Under the US legislation, the embargo can only be lifted when Cuba is deemed to have begun a democratic transition.
The Obama administration sees the trade embargo as a bargaining tool to America’s only Communist-run country towards making political and human rights reforms, says our correspondent.