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President Carter Wraps Up Historic Visit to Cuba Today

Aired May 17, 2002 - 06:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Jimmy Carter wraps up his historic visit to Cuba today. He set some challenges for President Fidel Castro and for President Bush as well.

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us live from Havana -- good morning, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Jimmy Carter is going to spend most of the morning here in Havana answering questions from the international press corps before heading back to the U.S. later on today. But before leaving the island, Carter spends his last full day here meeting with opponents of Fidel Castro's regime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Political dissidents in Cuba usually don't feel comfortable publicizing their actions, but at least this week, Jimmy Carter put them at ease, and some are taking advantage of the international spotlight.

JULIO RITALOGA, CUBAN DISSIDENT (through translator): I am not hurting Cubans by speaking out. I was born here. Castro is the one that needs to leave.

LAVANDERA: For three hours, Carter met with about two dozen political dissidents, including Vladimir Roca (ph), who was released from a Cuban prison earlier this month. He was in jail five years for publishing an article critical of the Cuban system. Roca's father helped establish that Communist system; now he wants the same system changed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think after Carter's visit everything will change for us. Hopefully, the government will continue to let us do our work, or they could shut us down completely.

LAVANDERA: But not every dissident agrees on the best way to bring about change. Some say the U.S. needs to do more to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's a shame the politicians in Washington are convinced that they need to continue along this crippling path of hostile rhetoric.

LAVANDERA: Jimmy Carter, at least Friday, and these political dissidents will be left behind to fight for their cause, but as one dissident said after the meeting, it's good to know we now have a friend like Jimmy Carter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Now, one interesting thing to look out for this morning is that we haven't seen Fidel Castro or heard from him since before Jimmy Carter's speech on Tuesday night. Fidel Castro was supposed to have headed to Spain for a summer there, but we understand he has cancelled that trip, and we are still waiting to find out exactly what his plans are to see whether or not he is going to see Jimmy Carter off from Cuba -- Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: Interesting. I think some of us are still struggling as to why Fidel Castro invited Carter to come to Cuba in the first place. Is this going to be seen in some circles as a big PR coup for Castro?

LAVANDERA: Well, Fidel Castro has been in power here in Cuba during the time of 10 American presidents, and he said when Jimmy Carter arrived on Sunday that he thought Jimmy Carter was the one U.S. president that was the most open toward Cuba. And because of that, he thought that Jimmy Carter would be the best person to invite and to extend an olive branch on his part out to the U.S.

So of all the presidents that Fidel Castro has worked under, has worked along with, or actually not worked very close with actually, but has worked at the same time, he has viewed Jimmy Carter as the one person he thought would be the most open toward what he has to say.

COSTELLO: And of course, part of what he wants is for the United States to lift the embargo, but that does not seem likely to happen when President Bush unveils his new Cuba policy on Monday. Will this been seen as a failure for Fidel Castro and for Jimmy Carter?

LAVANDERA: Well, Jimmy Carter long -- has known for a long time that the Bush administration opposed him on this one issue. I think Jimmy Carter views this as just one piece of a larger puzzle, and there are a lot of other things that need to be worked out as well.

So Jimmy Carter knew coming in that changing the mind of the present administration to lift the embargo or to ease some of the travel restrictions was going to be a tough thing to do. He said all along that any kind of change on both sides of the Florida Straits would be slow in coming.

COSTELLO: And of course, part of the reason that Mr. Bush may not change the policy is because of Cuban-Americans and that constituency, right?

LAVANDERA: Well, it's a very powerful constituency in south Florida and many Cuban exiles. There was a poll that was published yesterday that Cuban-Americans in Miami, 61 percent of them, support the embargo against -- the economic embargo against Cuba and would not like to see it lifted. But at the same time, 41 percent of those Cuban-Americans in Miami also support lifting some of the restrictions on travel to the island. Many of the folks who live in the U.S. who are Cuban exiles still have family here. So a lot of politicians throughout the country pay a lot of attention to exactly what these Cuban exiles would like to see happen in Cuba.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you -- Ed Lavandera reporting live from Cuba for us this morning -- thank you.

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