Raul Castro, the Cuban president, says his country does not have to make any gestures to the US, but has offered once again to hold wide-ranging talks with Washington.
Barack Obama, the US president, earlier this month eased the US trade embargo on Cuba by removing limits on Cuban American travel to the island.But he said he wanted to see "signals" from Cuba on such issues as freeing political prisoners and improving human rights to be able to move to normalise relations.
Speaking in Havana on Wednesday, Castro said the US steps were "fine, positive but only achieve the minimum. The embargo remains intact".The comments came as part of a speech to a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement.
"We have reiterated that 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," Castro said.
He said Cuba "has not imposed sanctions against the United States ... and therefore it is not Cuba that has to make gestures".
The last time Castro offered to discuss a wide range of topics with the US was on April 16.
He said then that discussion topics could include political prisoners - whom Cuba views as "mercenaries" in the service of the US - as well as democracy and freedom of the press.
The Obama administration greeted those comments as an important gesture, but Raul Castro's older brother, Fidel Castro, the former Cuban leader, wrote a few days later that the words had been "misinterpreted".
Fidel Castro indicated that Cuba had no intention of making concessions to Washington.
Cuban and US officials have begun informal talks in Washington to explore ways of improving relations that have been hostile since Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution.
