BY NANCY SAN MARTIN

  Former President Jimmy Carter will visit Cuba May 12-17 to meet with President Fidel Castro, trip organizers announced Thursday.

  ''I do not expect this trip to change the Cuban government or its policies,'' Carter said in a written statement. ``However, it is an opportunity to explore issues of mutual interest between our citizens and to share ideas on how to improve the relationship between the United States and Cuba.''

  Carter will be the first former president to travel to Havana since Castro took control in 1959. Permission for the trip was granted April 5 when the Treasury
  Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control decided Carter's request was legitimate under the license category of ``activities of private foundations or research or educational institutions.''

  Carter is traveling as founder of the Carter Center at Emory University in Atlanta.

  The visit has energized members in both camps of the Cuba issue -- those who support a hard-line approach and those who believe engagement is the better tool to
  bring about democratic changes on the communist-ruled island.

  Carter has strongly opposed the embargo on Cuba and backs an end to travel restrictions. But he also has been a vocal champion of human rights.