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NJ Senator Offers No Condolences Following Death Of Fidel Castro

NEW JERSEY (CBS) -- A longtime critic of the Castro regime is offering no words of condolence on the death of Fidel Castro.

ALSO READ: Former Cuban Refugee From South Jersey Reacts To Death Of Fidel Castro

New Jersey United States Senator Bob Menendez has criticized the Obama Administration for its diplomatic and economic outreach to Cuba in the past couple of years. It was supposed to improve things for the Cuban people, Menendez insists it hasn't.

"Too many families have been torn apart. Too many killed and imprisoned, too many tortured, too many hungry," he said. "A nation destroyed and millions enslaved. And a Castro still rules 11 million Cubans with an iron fist."

ALSO READ: Former Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Dead At 90 

Menendez, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Raul Castro should embrace Democratic reforms before any further change in relations with the Communist country.

Menendez said he wants real changes for the Cuban people before more economic sanctions are lifted.

"Release all political prisoners, hold free elections, permit a free press. Let the UN Commission on Human Rights enter the country. And then you can have a relationship with the United States."

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