Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed Cuban President Raul Castro's willingness to hold talks on political rights in the communist country and said the U.S. is studying his offer.

"We have seen Raul Castro's comments," Clinton told reporters in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before holding a town hall meeting with local residents. "We welcome this overture. We're taking a very serious look at it."

Castro said in Venezuela yesterday that Cuba has sent word to the U.S. privately and in public "that we are willing to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners."

The prospect of warming relations between the U.S. and Cuba came after President Barack Obama moved to lift some restrictions on travel and remittances to the island and to allow American communications companies such as AT&T Inc. to establish service to the nation. Obama didn't remove a 47-year- old embargo on most trade with Cuba.

Obama will arrive today in Trinidad and Tobago for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, where Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he will advocate for eliminating the U.S. embargo on Cuba, the only nation not invited to the meeting of 34 hemisphere leaders. Chavez has also threatened to withhold his support for the summit's draft resolution.

'Good Faith'

The change in the U.S.'s travel and remittances policy was "a show of good faith on the part of the United States that we want to recast our relationship," Obama said yesterday at a news conference in Mexico City. "Now a relationship that effectively has been frozen for 50 years is not going to thaw overnight."

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro said his country doesn't represent a threat to U.S. security and is open to talks with its neighbor.

"We don't fear dialogue, nor do we need to invent enemies, and we don't fear debating ideas," Castro, 82, said yesterday in a "reflection" sent via e-mail. "We believe in our convictions and with them we have defended and will continue to defend our homeland."

The U.S. has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba since 1962, when Castro expropriated the land of U.S. citizens and companies. In recent years, U.S. farmers have been allowed to export goods to the island, opening a new market. Cuba was the 10th biggest market for U.S. corn from September through February, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Cuban leaders have blamed the embargo for the Caribbean nation's economic and social problems.

By Matthew Walter, Bloomberg, April 17, 2009