Cuban President Fidel Castro said Hurricane Dennis has killed 16 people in his island country but he rejected an offer of help from the United States.

In an hours-long televised speech that started Monday night and extended into Tuesday morning, Castro said the storm had claimed 16 lives, up from 10 a day earlier.

All but three of the deaths occurred in the southeastern province of Granma.

Castro said the hurricane, which slammed into the island on Friday, damaged 120,000 homes, destroying 15,000 of them.

Its winds of up to 240 km/h devastated vegetable and citrus crops, he said.

He estimated it caused $1.4 billion US in property damage.

The 78-year-old communist leader also announced he had rejected an offer of $50,000 in disaster aid from the United States.

He said Cuba would continue to decline American help until Washington removed what he called its "genocidal" trade embargo against the island.

He also advised the European Union in advance that he wouldn't accept any other offers of help, with the exception of aid from "friendly" nations such as Venezuela.

The South American nation sent two planeloads of food and other emergency supplies to Cuba and Jamaica on the weekend.

With the new death toll, hurricane Dennis is blamed for the deaths of as many as 38 people in Cuba and Haiti, where it's believed 22 people died. Haiti's government has confirmed 11 of those deaths, but witness reports have placed it at the higher number.

Copyright ©2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation