ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) --Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will visit Cuba this
year, provided the Bush administration doesn't stand in his way, a Carter spokeswoman
confirmed Saturday.

The move would make Carter the first former American president to visit the island
since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

"He was issued a formal invitation by Fidel Castro, but he doesn't know yet when
he's going," Kay Torrance, a spokesman for The Carter Center in Atlanta, said
Saturday. "He doesn't have an agenda planned at this time. He's just looking forward
to the visit."

Carter told CNN on Friday that the Bush administration probably wouldn't prevent
the trip.

"I expect to get their tacit approval, not their blessing," Carter said. "We can't go,
obviously, without the permission of the government. My understanding is that they
will give that approval."

Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said Castro's invitation stemmed from the
Carter Center's "Americas Program," an effort to bring together leaders of the
Cuban-American exile community and the Castro government.

Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, told The
Miami Herald his organization welcomes the trip -- provided Carter tells Castro to
leave power. During a 1994 visit to Haiti, Carter negotiated an agreement to remove
military ruler Gen. Raoul Cedras from power.

"If he is going the way he went to Haiti, then we welcome his trip to Cuba if he is
going to tell Fidel Castro to leave," Garcia said. "However, if he's going to give
legitimacy to a 43-year-old dictatorship, then I think it would be unfortunate."

While not divulging his agenda, Carter said his intentions are to improve relations
between Cuba and the United States, not to deliver an ultimatum.

Carter said increasing trade and Americans' visits to Cuba would spread
understanding of the advantages of freedom.

"That's the best way to bring about change, 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 abuse of Americans," he
said.

 Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.