U.S. legislators seek to engage Raul Castro

[Jimmy2]

Thu Dec 14

HAVANA (Reuters) - Leading advocates of easing sanctions against Cuba in the U.S. Congress will fly to Havana on Friday to assess the situation since ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raul in July.

The largest Congressional delegation to visit Communist-run Cuba has asked to meet with acting president Raul Castro, who two weeks ago said he was open to talks with Washington.

The Bush administration, which opposes a "dynastic succession" from one Castro brother to the other, has rejected talks in the absence of democratic reform to Cuba's one-party state.

Cuba watchers said a meeting between the legislators and Raul Castro could mark a turning point in a hostile relationship that dates back to the start of the Cold War.

The three-day visit by 10 Republican and Democratic representatives comes amid heightened speculation that Fidel Castro, 80 and in power since 1959, is close to death.

"They are interested in talking to Cuban officials about the economic and political situation since the hand-over of power on July 31," said a source in the delegation.

The delegation is headed by Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and William Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who have said they will work to relax a ban on travel and a cap on family remittances to Cuba in Congress next year.

They favor engagement and trade with Cuba rather than sanctions as the best U.S. policy to foster change on the island.

NEW ERA?

"The Flake-Delahunt delegation, especially if the members meet with Raul Castro, may well be the first chapter in a new era of bilateral relations," said Julia Sweig, Cuba expert at the Council for Foreign Relations think tank in Washington.

Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, on Wednesday criticized a greater crackdown on dissent since the younger Castro took over.

"The regime has actually become harder and more orthodox and is not in a position to signal in any meaningful way what direction it will take post-Fidel," said Shannon.

A rare Gallup poll released on Thursday shows Cubans are divided on their country's Communist leadership and frustrated by the country's lack of freedom and economic opportunity.

Only 25 percent of Cubans interviewed by the Gallup Organization said they were satisfied with the freedom they have to choose what to do with their lives, the lowest figure among 100 countries surveyed by the polling firm.

Cuba responded on Thursday to Shannon's comments by attacking Bush administration efforts to undermine the only communist state in the Western hemisphere with millions of dollars in "misspent" funding for dissidents it labels U.S.-paid "mercenaries."

"The government and people will guarantee the total failure of those plans to encourage subversion and counter-revolution in our country," the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma said in an editorial.

The U.S. Interest Section in Havana, which operates under the Swiss flag in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, has provided dissidents with short-wave radios, books, writing materials and access to the Internet, but denies giving any money.

Granma pointed to a report by the General Accounting Office of the U.S. Congress that said some of the $73.6 million intended to fund dissent and broadcasts to Cuba between 1996 and 2005 was used to buy cashmere sweaters, Godiva chocolates, video games and Harry Potter novels.

The audit was ordered by congressmen Flake and Delahunt.

"With the impending demise of Fidel, the recent Democratic victory in the House and Senate, and the Bush administration coming to an end, no one can doubt that the politics of US-Cuba relations are on the verge of dramatic change," said Dan Erikson, of the Inter-American Dialogue policy group.

Sweig agreed. A Democrat-controlled Congress "is positioned to jump start a new debate in Washington," she said.

By Anthony Boadle