It quoted a leftist letter saying: “The Cuban state’s current repression of political dissidents amounts to collaboration with the most reactionary elements of the U.S. administration in their efforts to maintain sanctions and to institute even more punitive measures against Cuba . . . . By its actions, the Cuban state declares that it is not a government of the left . . . but just one more dictatorship, concerned with maintaining its monopoly of power above all else.”

I think it's quite possible that Castro doesn't want sanctions to end, that way he can keep blaming the US for all his own failures.

I do agree with Tom's general premise that PARTS of the left retain a shameful sympathy for Castro that they should've abandoned within a year or two of his gaining power.