Former Cuban president Fidel Castro in Havana in 2004. Credit:Getty Images He said that while Cuba "remains a totalitarian island", he hoped Castro's death "marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve". Trump said his administration would do all it can "to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty", and he said he was joining many Cuban-Americans in the hope "of one day seeing a free Cuba". Trump's initial reaction to Castro's death sidestepped whether the incoming president would make good on a threat made late in his White House campaign to reverse President Barack Obama's moves to open relations with the Cold War adversary. Obama used his executive powers on a series of steps to ease trade, travel and financial restrictions against Cuba, arguing it was time to try diplomacy after the half-century-long economic embargo against Cuba had failed to shake the regime.

Trump's first statement on Cuba policy since the November 8 election, issued from his Palm Beach, Florida resort where he and his family were spending the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday, did not address whether he would roll back Obama's measures because of concerns about religious and political freedom in Cuba. Trump has just begun to fill out the top ranks of his national security team, and has not yet named his top diplomat - the secretary of state - who will play a major role in formulating policy on Cuba. A US official noted the advisers Trump has named thus far are not known to have any particular interest in Cuba. That may mean Trump's economic team will have more sway over Cuba policy, which could lead to a more pragmatic approach than Trump's campaign pledges, the official said. An aggressive policy by Trump would close off lucrative opportunities to US businesses and hand them to European or Asian firms, and would hurt companies like American Airlines, due to start commercial flights to Havana on Monday for the first time in half a century. What will Trump do?

Trump had started his campaign saying he was open to lifting the long-standing embargo on trade with Cuba. In January, he said on Fox News that he was in favour of "opening it up" with Cuba, but wanted a better "deal" than Obama had made, comments he repeated in a debate with Republican rivals in March. "I would want to make a strong, solid, good deal because right now, everything is in Cuba's favour," Trump said in March, saying he would "probably have the embassy closed" in Havana until a new deal was made. When Obama visited Cuba later that month, Trump said in an interview with CNN that he "probably" would continue to normalise economic and diplomatic relations with Cuba, and would even open a Trump hotel in Cuba if the conditions were right. "I think Cuba has certain potential, and I think it's OK to bring Cuba into the fold, but you have to make a much better deal," he said, noting he was worried Cuba would sue the United States for reparations for damage caused by its decades-long embargo on Cuba.

Cuba policy was not part of a major foreign policy address Trump delivered in April. After he secured his party's nomination, his position shifted to a more traditional Republican position. At a Miami rally in September, Trump said he would roll back Obama's Cuban policy reforms unless Cuban leaders allowed religious freedom and freed political prisoners. "The next president can reverse them, and that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands," Trump told supporters. His vice-presidential running mate, Mike Pence, also took a hard line. "Let me make you a promise," Pence said in Miami just days before the election. "When Donald Trump is president of the United States, we will repeal Obama's executive orders on Cuba." Loading

On Saturday, Pence tweeted: "The tyrant Castro is dead. New hope dawns. We will stand with the oppressed Cuban people for a free and democratic Cuba. Viva Cuba Libre!" AP, Reuters