WASHINGTON - The United States has no plans for a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations after President Fidel Castro temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul because of serious illness, the White House said on Tuesday.
"Raul Castro's attempt to impose himself on the Cuban people is just much the same" as his brother, said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "There are no plans to reach out."
Snow said that "we don't know what the condition is of Fidel Castro," but added that he did not believe the 79-year-old leader was dead.
The departure of Castro from power in communist Cuba has long been a goal of U.S. policy, but U.S. officials were not getting their hopes up after state television reported that he had stepped down temporarily following intestinal surgery.
"The fact that you have an autocrat handing power off to his brother does not mark an end to autocracy," Snow said.
A U.S. government report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba recommended a month ago that the United States act fast to boost a transitional government in Cuba when Castro's rule ends and get advisers on the ground within weeks.
"The one thing we want to do is continue to assure the people of Cuba we stand ready to help," Snow said.
But a senior State Department official, who asked not to be named because he was discussing internal administration decisions, said Castro's illness had not prompted the United States to activate the plan.
"We have not opened it yet," he said.
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