Havana - Fidel Castro demanded Tuesday that President Barack Obama put an end to the decades-old embargo of Cuba, in the first official reaction from Havana to Obama's move to end US restrictions on travel and remittances by Cuban Americans. "Not a word was said of the blockade, which is the most cruel of all measures," the former Cuban president said in a piece published Tuesday under his name in Cuban state media.

The White House announced moves on Monday to lift all restrictions on Cuban Americans travelling and sending money back to their home country as part of a much-anticipated reversal of US policies toward Cuba.

In an executive order, Obama also expanded communications links and allowed more humanitarian donations to be sent to Cuba in what the White House billed as an effort to encourage a democratic transition on the Communist island.

The move came just day before the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in which Obama is to meet representatives of all Latin American countries except Cuba.

However, the tone of Castro's message was to some extent conciliatory.

"The conditions are there for Obama to devote his talent to a constructive policy that puts an end to a policy that has failed for almost half-a-century," he said.

Castro, 82, stressed "the growing demand in and outside the United States" in favour of an elimination of the embargo, but noted that he "does not blame" Obama "for the atrocities that were perpetrated by other governments in Washington."

Further, he said he does not question Obama's "sincerity and his wish to change the policies and the image of the United States."

"Cuba has resisted and will resist. It will never stretch its hands to beg. It will keep moving forward with its head held high, cooperating with its brother peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean, whether there is a Summit of the Americas or not, whether Obama is the president of the United States or not," he wrote. (dpa)