From Damian Whitworth in Washington

                    JIMMY CARTER, the former US President, is preparing to
                    become the most senior American political figure to visit
                    Havana since the revolution, lending significant weight to the
                    campaign to lift the US embargo on Cuba.

                    Mr Carter, a longstanding critic of US policy towards Cuba, has
                    accepted an invitation from President Castro to visit the island.
                    His planned trip comes amid increasing criticism of the embargo
                    in Congress and among business and agriculture leaders.

                    The sanctions, including what is in effect a ban on US citizens
                    travelling to Cuba, were imposed in 1961 after Señor Castro
                    ordered the confiscation of US businesses and began
                    receiving aid from the Soviet Union.

                    Mr Carter briefly lifted restrictions on travel in 1977 and he also
                    established diplomatic missions in the two countries, which fall
                    short of full-scale embassies, but ensure that contacts are
                    maintained. The Cuban interests section in Washington and a
                    similar US outpost in Havana remain to this day, but
                    subsequent presidents have been rigorous in maintaining the
                    trade embargo and travel ban.

                    “When I was President, I departed from my predecessors and,
                    unfortunately, my successors in lifting all travel restraints on
                    American citizens to go to Cuba, and I also established
                    interests sections,” Mr Carter said. “I think the best way to
                    bring about democratic changes in Cuba is obviously to have
                    maximum commerce and trade, and visitation by Americans
                    and others who know freedom.”

                    He said that it was crucial “to let the Cuban people know the
                    advantages of freedom and not to punish the Cuban people
                    themselves by imposing an embargo on them which makes
                    Castro seem to be a hero because he is defending his own
                    people against the ‘abusive Americans’.”

                    The Bush Administration is expected to approve the trip despite
                    its own solid opposition to the Castro regime. Ari Fleischer, the
                    White House spokesman, said that the US Treasury, which
                    sets the criteria for travel to Cuba for humanitarian missions,
                    was looking at Mr Carter’s case, but indicated that he was
                    likely to be given permission to travel.

                    Americans are not expressly forbidden from visiting Cuba, but
                    cannot spend any money there and can be heavily fined if
                    found to have done so. Cultural visits, which are on the rise,
                    are permitted.

                    “If President Carter were to travel to Cuba, the President hopes
                    that his message would be a very direct and straightforward
                    message; that in order to have human rights in Cuba, it is
                    important for Fidel Castro to allow democracy to take root, to
                    stop the represssion and to stop the imprisonments, to bring
                    freedom to the people of Cuba,” Mr Fleischer said. “He hopes
                    that would be a message that would be taken directly to
                    President Castro.”

                    Last week a cross-party group of congressmen called for a
                    review of US policy on sanctions, arguing that they were a
                    relic of the Cold War. Many American businessmen and
                    farmers have been lobbying hard to be allowed to break into
                    the Cuban market. A recent study by the Cuban Policy
                    Foundation found that the embargo is costing American
                    farmers £870 million in lost trade.

                    President Clinton hinted at a desire to improve relations with
                    Señor Castro, and during the UN Millennium summit in New
                    York he became the first US President to shake hands with the
                    Cuban leader.

                    However, Mr Bush is mindful of the outrage that would follow
                    any easing of the embargo, particularly from Cuban exiles in
                    the key electoral state of Florida, where his brother is the
                    Governor. The President remains opposed to a change in
                    policy and has appointed leading anti-Castro figures to jobs in
                    his Administration.

                    At the UN summit on poverty and development in Mexico last
                    week, Señor Castro accused the US of putting pressure on the
                    hosts to force him to leave early, a charge that Mr Bush
                    denied. “I know of no pressure placed on anybody,” Mr Bush
                    said. “Fidel Castro can do what he wants to do. What I’m
                    uncomfortable about is the way he treats his people.” He
                    described Cuba as “a place where people don’t have hope”.

                    Mr Carter’s plans to accept the Cuban invitation were criticised
                    strongly by Cuban-Americans, including Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a
                    Cuban-born Republican Congresswoman from Miami. “I don’t
                    have such high hopes for President Carter. His presidency
                    was a disaster,” she told CNN. “It is Castro who has imposed
                    misery. To think that you can love-bomb a dictator is just
                    ludicrous.”