Raul: hunger strikes are blackmail, we won't yield to them

AP: Raul Castro closed a meeting of Cuba’s communist youth with a 45-minute speech that referred to hunger striker Guillermo Farinas, not by name, saying Farinas’ own “self-destructive” conduct, not the government, is to blame if he dies. He said Farinas and his supporters are engaged in “blackmail.”

AFP previewed the weekend conference here.

Here’s the speech text in English and Spanish.