Cuba, US spar over blame for poor ties

Josefina Vidal, the head of the Foreign Ministry's North American affairs division, said Obama was poorly informed if he thought Cuba had not changed in recent years. She said her country has always been willing to negotiate improved relations with the U.S.

"It's unfortunate that President Obama continues to be poorly advised and ill-informed about the Cuban reality, as well as the sentiments of his own people who desire normalization of our relationship," Vidal said in a statement sent to foreign media on the island.

She said Cuba was "changing and advancing," a reference to economic and social reforms enacted in recent years under President Raul Castro.

In an interview with the Spanish news channel Telemundo broadcast Wednesday, Obama said his administration is open to better ties but that "it's got to be a two-way street."

He said Cuban jails are still filled with political prisoners and that the island's leaders are clinging to a failed model.

"It's time to join the 21st century," he said. "It's one thing to have cars from the 1950s. It's another thing when your whole political ideology .. is 50 years or 60 years old and it's been proven not to work."

In recent years, Cuba has allowed for limited capitalism and legalized the real estate market, among other reforms, while insisting the changes did not constitute a break from its socialist model.

Among the measures getting the most attention was last month's lifting of a longstanding requirement that islanders ask the government's permission to travel abroad.