Congress Trip Could Thaw Cuban Relations

A group of 10 members of the US Congress have arrived in Cuba in what is being seen as the first move in a possible thawing of relations with the country.

The cross-party group is believed to be the largest congressional delegation to visit the country since the revolution in 1959 and comes amid further rumours of Fidel Castro's failing health.

The group includes William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, who have campaigned against the trade embargo which has been tightened by President Bush.

It is not known whether they will meet the country's interim leader, Raul Castro, who has already indicated that he would like to see better relations with the US. The group, whose visit is due to end on Sunday afternoon, is also due to meet Michael Parmly, head of the American interests section on the island.

With Democrats gaining greater legislative power through their victories in last month's US elections a slackening of the embargo is seen as inevitable.

At present Cubans in Florida are only allowed to return to the island every three years and this restriction is seen as the likeliest to go, because it has proved unpopular with the usually pro-Bush exile community. Opponents of President Castro in Cuba have also repeatedly called on President Bush to end the embargo.

"People are talking about Cuba again," said Sarah Stephens, director of the Freedom to Travel Campaign, an organisation that seeks to overturn the travel ban. She said the group would meet the president of the national assembly, Ricardo Alarcón, and the foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, both of whom are likely to be leading figures in a post-Castro Cuba.

The visit came as the US director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, claimed that Fidel Castro was close to death. "Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer ... months, not years," he told the Washington Post yesterday.