SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A6

LENGTH: 700 words

HEADLINE: CARTER SAYS CUBA EMBARGO HURTING US CITIZENS MOST

BYLINE: By Marion Lloyd, Globe Correspondent

BODY:
HAVANA - The US trade embargo on Cuba violates the human rights of American travelers and business people while having little effect on Cuba, Jimmy Carter said yesterday as he concluded a historic visit to the communist-run island.

The former president, 77, said he planned to fax a report of his findings to the US State Department today in hopes of influencing President Bush's scheduled announcement Monday on a revised US-Cuba policy. Carter said he would also meet separately with Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and members of Congress to brief them on his trip.

    During six heavily scheduled days, the former president held closed-door talks with President Fidel Castro of Cuba and other top officials, met with dozens of Cuban dissidents and religious leaders, and toured health and scientific research centers. "I feel now that the embargo is not the cause of any economic problem in Cuba," he said at a news conference before returning home to Georgia.

Carter, who made the trip as the head of the Atlanta-based Carter Center, contended that, in many cases, Cuba could actually buy more cheaply from countries other than the United States. "But I see the embargo and the trade and travel restrictions as an imposition on the human rights of American citizens . . . not particularly on that of Cubans," he said. "I think an American citizen or company should have the right to visit any place on earth and to trade with any other purchaser or supplier on earth."

The comments appeared directed at the Bush administration's support for continuing the 41-year-old embargo despite growing opposition from lawmakers and American business groups. In unexpectedly frank statements this week, Carter also challenged accusations by Bush officials that Cuba was producing biological weapons, but after touring the country's world-class biotechnology lab, he said he believed Cuba was fully capable of producing such technology.

"I know enough about science to know that any nation that can produce vaccines for meningitis and hepatitis B and C can also produce nerve gas and other substances that could be used in bioterrorism," said Carter, who has a degree in nuclear physics.

He suggested that Washington should allow for a "massive exchange" of students and researchers, who could avail of Cuba's scientific advances while helping ensure that the information is not used for military purposes.

The desire to end hostilities between Cuba and the United States was a major focus of Carter's visit, the first by a former or current American president since Castro's 1959 communist revolution. Carter brought with him hundreds of sensitive documents dealing with US-Cuban relations during his 1977-81 term - papers recently declassified at the request of his delegation - which he presented to Castro this week. Delegation officials said they were hopeful that Castro would also hand over documents from that period, enabling both countries to learn more about a rare interlude of rapprochement between Havana and Washington.

Carter praised Castro for allowing him the freedom to travel and speak with whomever he chose, and in particular, to deliver a public address to the Cuban people. His speech Tuesday night, in which he lauded Cuba's achievements in social services while criticizing the lack of democracy, was broadcast live on government TV and radio, and the transcript was printed in full on Thursday in the state-run Granma newspaper.

"I think that Carter has injected a very positive idea into two body politics, but 43 years of old habits are not easy to overcome in" a brief visit, said Robert Pastor, Carter's former national security adviser on Latin America, who accompanied him on the trip. Still, he added, "no one can any longer ignore the power of the idea that there is an alternative to the insults and recriminations between the US and Cuba."

Carter was also optimistic that his visit would fuel the anti embargo movement in the United States.

"Overall, I'm pleased with my trip. I recognized in advance that one short trip could not change relations between our people," Carter added. "I hope that in the future, relations might be improved."

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Jimmy Carter hopes to meet with President Bush on Cuba. Above, Carter, with Cuba's president, Fidel Castro, ending his visit to the island yesterday. / AP PHOTO

LOAD-DATE: May 20, 2002