The White House has announced that it will not send an official delegation to Fidel Castro’s memorial service in Havana but that the US will be represented by a senior presidential aide and the top US diplomat in Cuba. Obama was broadly assailed by Republicans and Democrats for a statement on Castro’s death on Saturday that made no mention of the brutal aspects of his regime. The White House has been on the defensive over the issue, wary that it is one of many flagship Obama policies that Donald Trump is threatening to overturn on taking office. “Mr Rhodes has played a leading role in crafting the normalization policy that President Obama announced about two years ago. He has been the principal interlocutor with the Cuban government from the White House in crafting this policy and implementing it successfully,” the spokesman said.

Source: The Guardian November 29, 2016 20:01 UTC