Havana  - Ailing Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro says he believes new US President Barack Obama has good intentions, but there were still a number of open questions.

Castro also didn't miss the opportunity to rub in that Cuba's half-century-old communist regime has now survived 10 US presidents, despite more than four decades of the US economic embargo.

In fact, with his inauguration on Tuesday, Obama became the eleventh president in the Castro family's list.

The commentary was made public on Thursday after Castro met with Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

"I told her that I personally did not have a bit of doubt about the honesty and commitment of Obama to his expressed ideas," Castro wrote. "But despite his noble intentions, there are still many questions that need to be answered."

Fidel Castro said he pointed out to Kirchner "the historic meaning for Cuba that as of 12:00 (Tuesday,) ten presidents have come and gone over 50 years, but none of them, despite the mammoth power of this country, have managed to destroy the Cuban revolution," Castro said.

During the election campaign, Obama said he would meet with the Cuban president, Fidel's brother Raoul. He has mentioned the possibility of easing restrictions on travel and currency transfers to the Caribbean island.

But Obama has made clear the embargo would stay in place until Cuba adapts democracy.

In November, Raoul Castro suggested wryly that he would be open to meeting Obama at a neutral location, perhaps Guantanamo Bay.

"We could give the president a gift ... we could send him home with the American flag that waves over Guantanamo Bay," Castro joked.

In fact, Obama Thursday declared that the notorious US military prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay would be closed within the year.

The US Navy has leased the bay from Cuba since the early part of the 1900s and argues that the contract states that both sides must agree to end the arrangement. That's why the Navy has stayed despite demands by the Cubans to return it.

The Navy pays the Cuban government 4,085 dollars annually. Longtime leader Fidel Castro, who officially retired in February, famously refused to cash the checks and kept them in a drawer.

Guantanamo, however, has been a rare point of contact between the two enemies. Since the mid-1990s, the US commander at the base has met with a Cuban counterpart on a monthly basis, with each rotating as host in small building near the fence line. The two militaries have also held joint exercises in combating wild fires. (dpa)