Bush snubs Carter call to end Cuba embargo

President's debt to anti-Castro lobby scuppers ex-president's plea.

As the former US president Jimmy Carter wraps up a week-long visit to Havana, his proposal that the US should "take the first step" towards ending the four-decade embargo against Cuba is set to clash with anti-Cuba proposals that President George Bush will announce in Miami on Monday.

In a televised speech to the Cuban people this week, Mr Carter said he had come "to extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people", in an effort to end a "destructive state of belligerence for 42 years".

Mr Carter's initiative was quickly supported by the Cuban Working Group, a bipartisan coalition of 40 members of the US Congress who are seeking to end the trade and travel embargo on Cuba.

The Massachusetts Republican congressman William Delahunt outlined proposals that included student exchanges, food aid and increased cultural contacts between the two countries.

"Adopt a policy of engagement," Mr Delahunt urged. "It has proved successful elsewhere in the world."

But late on Wednesday, the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, announced that the Bush administration would continue a policy that seeks to penalise US citizens with fines of $50,000 (£34,000) for visiting the island, and outlaws normal trade.

"President Carter speaks his mind, and he spoke his mind with respect to our policy, which he would like to see change, but which is not going to change," Mr Powell said.

Mr Powell added that President Bush would be outlining the latest Cuba policy in detail on Monday.

"I think the president will reinforce that when he gives his speech," he said.

"I'm sure it will be a speech, though, that also offers hope and promise to the Cuban people."

Mr Bush's speech will be delivered at a fundraising event for his brother Jeb, who is running for re-election as the governor of Florida.

Given that the powerful anti-Castro Cuban-American community in south Florida was a key factor in the 2000 presidential elections, there is an expectation that Mr Bush's speech will contain a variety of new measures designed to isolate Mr Castro.

The New York Times has reported that there are plans to fund and organise pro-US democracy groups working within Cuba while also making it more difficult for US tourists to visit Cuba.

Mr Bush will also propose increased funding for TV Marti, an anti-Castro television channel which is beamed from Florida to Cuba. A showdown in the US is likely later this year, when American pressure groups are promising to challenge the blockade by shipping food, medicine and a boatload of pianos to Cuba.

During past efforts to promote US-Cuban solidarity, American activists have gathered truckloads of supplies and driven them across the Mexican border, shipping the material from there to Cuba.

Phil Agee, a former CIA agent who now runs Cubalinda.com, an online travel agency in Cuba, said: "I don't think any additional measures by Bush to tighten the travel and trade embargo restrictions will reduce US visitors to Cuba.

"People are coming by the thousands, and that will continue to grow. Until now, no one has had to pay the fines for travelling to Cuba without a licence.

"On our website, we have posted draft letters from lawyers who will help defend travellers cited by the treasury department."

To skirt the current travel ban, Americans travel via Mexico, the Bahamas or Canada. But over the past year, the Bush administration has sharply increased surveillance and taken action against travellers to Cuba.

During 2001, 766 Americans were cited for violating the ban - a 400% increase from the final year of the Clinton administration.