UPDATE - Trump threatens to rescind Cuba deal

ADDS WHITE HOUSE COMMENT

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON (AA) – Following the death of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, President-elect Donald Trump threatened Monday to rescind diplomatic relations with Cuba if the island nation does not reform.

"If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal," Trump tweeted.

The message on social media was in sharp contrast to a statement by President Barack Obama after learning of Castro’s death, that suggested the two countries pursue a future based not on differences but on commonality.

Trump initially reacted to Castro’s death by tweeting, "Fidel Castro is dead!". He later said Castro was a "brutal dictator who oppressed his own people” and that the Cuban leader’s legacy was "one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights".

He added Castro's death could change relations between the two countries.

The White House denied that a change would be effected by the Cuban leader's death "at least from the U.S. standpoint".

Spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that the progress made to this point in normalizing ties "would be a difficult thing to unwind.

"There will be an economic impact in the United States and in Cuba for unraveling that policy," he said.

"It's hard for critics of this policy to reconcile their opposition to this policy and their claimed desire to advance the interests of the Cuban people, because the truth is, this policy does advance the interests of the Cuban people," he added.

The comments come as U.S. airliners commenced daily direct flights to the island nation's capital for the first time in more than 50 years -- a milestone in the rapprochement process.

Neither Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden will attend Castro's funeral ceremony, Earnest said, but he did not rule out that a U.S. delegation would go to Cuba.

After nearly six decades of discorded relations, the normalization of diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana began in July 2015, when Obama announced he would restore the relations at the diplomatic level by reopening the U.S. embassy in Cuba.

The Cuban embassy was also reopened in Washington DC, followed by an agreement on having commercial flights between two countries and relief of some more economic sanctions.

Trump promised similar claims during his presidential campaign but did not specify how he would do it.

* Anadolu Agency Washington Correspondent Michael Hernandez contributed to this report