Island must allow democratic shift, ex-president says

                      BY NANCY SAN MARTIN

                      In an unprecedented address to the Cuban nation, former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday called for an end to the United States'
                      four-decade-old embargo against Cuba, but also called on the Cuban government to open space for democratic changes.

                      ''Our two nations have been trapped in a destructive state of belligerence for 42 years and it is time for us to change our relationship and the
                      way we think and talk about each other,'' Carter said.

                      Employing words and arguments rarely, if ever, heard on Cuba's state-controlled media in the more than 40 years since the advent of the
                      Cuban Revolution, Carter called for the government to allow the sort of democratic political activity that would bring about democratic
                      change.

                      He endorsed the so-called Varela Project, a grass-roots petition drive that calls for a referendum to change some of Cuba's basic laws and
                      declared: ``When Cubans exercise this freedom to change laws peacefully by a direct vote, the world will see that Cubans, and not
                      foreigners, will decide the future of this country.''

                      The 20-minute speech was delivered in Spanish, laced with a thick Southern accent, at the University of Havana and broadcast live on Cuban
                      television and radio. The event represented one of the few times that a prominent figure from a democratic country has been able to speak
                      directly to the 11 million Cubans on the island.

                      The 77-year-old former president used the opportunity to chastise the Cuban government, softening his tone by endorsing some of Castro's
                      favorite programs such as free healthcare and universal education. He also called for an end to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, thus endorsing a
                      fundamental position of Cuban foreign policy.

                      Carter said that ''because the United States is the most powerful nation,'' it should take the first step toward reconciliation and the U.S. Congress
                      should act soon to lift travel restrictions, establish open trading relationships and repeal the embargo.

                      RIGHT TO CHOOSE

                      Citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Cuba signed in 1948, Carter called on the Cuban government to offer its citizens ``the right
                      to choose their own leaders, to define their own destiny, to speak freely, to organize political parties, trade unions and nongovernmental groups, and
                      to have fair and open trials.''

                      Cubans on the island reached by phone welcomed the speech, but not all agreed with Carter's premise that democracy is nonexistent in Cuba.

                      ''He has his ideas as an American, and we have ours,'' said Clara Radillo, 58, of Havana.

                      Said her father, Arcadio Radillo, 94: "He had the freedom to say what he wanted, and we also have the freedom to say what we want: First of all,
                      the embargo should be lifted in order for us to be able to establish a friendship. It is not just for a country to meddle in the affairs of another.''

                      Cuban Americans in the United States had mixed reactions.

                      Republican Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart called Carter's presence in Cuba ''a shame,'' but Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National
                      Foundation, called it a "courageous speech.''

                      SEVERAL SURPRISES

                      Within his first two days, Carter has lobbed surprises with an unscheduled meeting with prominent dissidents and suggestions that U.S. officials sought
                      to undercut his landmark visit with baseless charges that Cuba was involved in the development and transfer of technology that could be used for
                      weapons of mass destruction.

                      NO POLICY CHANGE

                      President Bush also remarked about Carter's visit, saying he will urge Cubans to ''demand freedom'' during a speech he is scheduled to deliver in
                      Miami on Monday.

                      He also said that the visit ``doesn't complicate my foreign policy, because I haven't changed my foreign policy -- and that is Fidel Castro is a dictator
                      and he is oppressive and he ought to have free elections and he ought to have a free press and he ought to free his prisoners and he ought to encourage
                      free enterprise.''

                      Despite the apparent warmth between the two elder leaders, a cordial debate also has emerged between Carter and Castro, 75, over the meaning of
                      human rights and democracy.

                      ABSOLUTE FREEDOM

                      On the eve of the speech, Carter, a longtime civil liberties advocate, told students at a social workers school that Americans ``feel that it is very
                      important to have absolute freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.''

                      ''We take pride in our freedom to criticize our own government and to change our government when we don't like it by voting in elections that are
                      contested,'' Carter said.

                      ``Our people are completely free to form our own businesses, to hire other people to work and to make a profit.''

                      CASTRO RESPONSE

                      Later, Castro responded by saying that the concept of democracy was born in ancient Athens, with fewer than 20,000 citizens ruling 50,000
                      noncitizens and 80,000 slaves.

                      He said Cuba was striving for ''a society with justice'' and equal opportunity.

                      Today Carter is to meet with Ricardo Alarcón, the president of Cuba's National Assembly.

                      Carter will likely push the Varela Project once again. Organizers turned in 11,020 signatures last week in hopes of getting the National Assembly to
                      act on the request when it convenes this summer. The signatures were delivered with a bold letter addressed to Alarcón demanding that the
                      government publicly recognize the initiative as a legal tool -- as outlined in the Cuban constitution.

                      CIVIL LIBERTIES

                      The letter also admonished security forces for allegedly stealing signatures and detaining or intimidating those involved in the project.

                      The letter also requested a meeting with government officials and access to state-controlled media outlets for exposure of the referendum on civil
                      liberties such as free speech, amnesty for political prisoners, the right to start businesses and an electoral overhaul.

                      Most Cubans know very little if anything of the Varela Project because mention of it has been virtually banned on state-controlled media.

                      Following the speech, Carter attended a baseball game between all-star teams comprised of top players from eastern and western Cuba.

                      He said he wants the people of the United States and Cuba ``to share more than a love of baseball and wonderful music.''

                      Herald intern Larissa Ruiz Campo contributed to this report.