The ailing 81-year-old, in a brief but biting column released on the Internet, accused the 27-nation bloc of "enormous hypocrisy" and called its actions "disparaging."
"At my age and in my state of health, one never knows how much time they will live, but from now on I want to put in writing my contempt for the enormous hypocrisy that surrounds the decision," wrote Castro, who has been mostly on the sidelines since surgery almost two years ago.
While the EU nations say Cuba must improve its performance on human rights and release political prisoners, they mistreat illegal immigrants from Latin America by using "brutal methods" to expel them, wrote Castro, who remains head of the island nation's Communist Party.
"From Cuba, in the name of human rights, they demand impunity for those (dissidents) that try to deliver ... the homeland and the people to imperialism," he said, referring to the United States.
The EU on Thursday voted to lift diplomatic sanctions imposed against Cuba in 2003 in response to the arrest of 75 dissidents. The sanctions were suspended in 2005, but remained a sore spot in Cuba-EU relations.
By dropping the sanctions, which only froze high-level diplomatic visits, EU members said they hoped to encourage Cuban reforms begun since Raul Castro formally replaced older brother Fidel as president in February.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told Reuters on Thursday the elimination of the sanctions were "a step in the right direction" but the government would not make an official response until next week.
Republished with permission FOCUS News Agency
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