BY TERE FIGUERAS, CAROLYN SALAZAR AND LUISA YANEZ

  Watching from her Miami home as Jimmy Carter began his speech to the Cuban people -- with Fidel Castro sitting nearby -- exile activist Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera confessed she was ''a little wary'' that the former president seemed to be resorting to softball diplomacy.

  ''I was a little upset at first,'' said Rodriguez Aguilera, founder of the nonpartisan New Generation Cuba, who called Carter's initial praise of the island's accomplishments "naive.''

  ''But then he brought it around and honeyed it up at the end,'' she said.

  The ''honey'' she referred to was Carter's widely anticipated inclusion of human rights issues, involving political prisoners and dissidents' efforts on the island to push
  broad changes. Many South Floridians who watched the speech on television said they were pleasantly surprised with Carter's words.

  ''It's the first time that someone has told the truth to Fidel's face without being killed or sent to jail,'' said Rodriguez Aguilera, whose group began as an alternative to
  hard-line exile politics after the Elián González custody case in 2000.

  IMPORTANT POINTS

  References to ''prisoners of conscience,'' the need for Cuba to join the ''family'' of democratic nations and mention of the Varela Project -- a peaceful grass-roots attempt that has 11,020 signatures asking for a referendum on political and economic issues -- earned Carter high marks from other exile leaders.

  ''I'm satisfied,'' said Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation. "The Cuban regime will not be able to erase this from the minds of the Cuban people.''

  Mas Santos, along with other CANF members, had met with Carter before his trip to offer advice.

  ''It put the government on the defensive,'' Mas Santos said. "It was tremendous.''

  Carter's speech, preceded by both the Cuban and American national anthems, was not without criticism.

  Rafael Peñalver, head of the San Carlos Institute in Key West, also called some of Carter's statements ''naive'' -- including Carter's suggestion to create a blue-ribbon commission to address claims on property lost by companies and citizens during the Cuban Revolution.

  ''Our motivation is more noble, I think, than property. For him to say that is kind of naive,'' Peñalver said. But overall, he said, Carter's speech was "balanced. And
  probably more powerful because of that.''

  Gov. Jeb Bush, commenting on a Tampa television station, said Carter should leave foreign policy to the current White House.

  He called Castro a ''master of manipulation'' who could be fooling Carter.

  ''He brings down these congressmen and a former president, in this case, and others and wines and dines them and they think all is well,'' the governor said. "But
  inside his prisons are political prisoners who do things that in our wildest dreams we would never imagine putting people in prison for.''

  MIXED RESPONSE

  At Latin American Cafeteria in Hialeah Tuesday, only one of four TV screens aired the former president's speech.

  ''His speech didn't make an impact, and I didn't think it would,'' said Moises Kaba, 65, watching the speech on Telémundo. "It's not going to solve anything.''

  Patron Jesus Mejias, 64, lauded the speech, however. ''He did the right thing by saying a change is needed in that country, because Cuba can't go on the way it is,'' he said.

  Waitress Barbara Aguilera, 31, disagreed. She said Carter should have been more blunt.

  ''He was too soft on the Cuban government and the communist regime,'' she said. "He needed to be more direct and demand that the situation over there should not continue.''

  Carter's rush-hour speech appeared to generate little interest at Miami's Latin American Cafeteria. Several people casually glanced at the TV sets on an outdoor patio.

  One person watching intently: Miguel Saavedra, head of the Vigilia Mambisa, an active exile protest group, who said he doesn't agree with ''the closeness with Cuba'' Carter is promoting. But as Saavedra heard Carter voice criticism of Castro's regime, he raised his fist in triumph.

  ''Yes!'' he said.

  Herald Capital Bureau chief Peter Wallsten contributed to this report.