CRAWFORD (USA), Dec 31: The United States remains committed to seeking freedom for the Cuban people, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Americas’ only communist regime.

“We stand with you,” Johndroe said in a reference to Cuba’s 11 million people, who are marking the 50th anniversary of the country’s revolution swept in by ailing Fidel Castro, and now led by his brother President Raul Castro.

The spokesman said the United States “will continue to seek freedom” for the people of Cuba.

President George Bush’s administration has taken a rhetorical hard line with Havana while at the same time allowing cash-only US food sales to Cuba under a gaping loophole in the US embargo.

Meanwhile US president-elect Barack Obama has said that he would consider speaking to foreign leaders unconditionally, a sharp contrast to Bush’s isolationist stand on Havana, which has remained communist decade in and decade out — despite US sanctions.—AFP