WASHINGTON — President Obama will not send a formal delegation to Cuba to attend the funeral of the former Cuban strongman Fidel Castro, but instead will dispatch a top White House aide.

Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, will attend the funeral, as will Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the top American diplomat in Cuba, to represent the United States, said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary.

The administration decided that the relationship between the two countries remained “quite complicated,” Mr. Earnest said. “There are many aspects of the U.S.-Cuba relationship that were characterized by a lot of conflict and turmoil, not just during the Castro regime.”

Mr. Earnest said the administration continued to have significant concerns about the Cuban government, including its poor protection of basic human rights.