Diplomat says policy will not change despite Havana's pleasantries

                  By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

                  HAVANA – The top U.S. diplomat in Cuba said Thursday that Fidel Castro has
                  launched a "charm offensive" to try to persuade the United States to soften its
                  40-year-old trade embargo.

                  American officials aren't impressed, she said.

                  "Our policy can't change just because Cuba wants it to," said Vicki Huddleston, chief
                  of the American mission.

                  Cuba must take steps toward becoming a more open society before the United
                  States will consider changes in its policy toward the island nation, the diplomat said
                  in some of her most extensive comments on the topic.

                  Cuban officials accused Ms. Huddleston of speaking up now to calm South Florida's
                  Cuban-Americans, some of whom are worried that the United States is planning to
                  lift the trade embargo soon.

                  "In Miami there's extraordinary confusion ... a state of alarm," said Roberto de
                  Armas, an official with Cuba's Foreign Ministry. Cuban-Americans "think there's an
                  under-the-table deal" to soften the trade ban, he said.

                  Cuban officials contend that the State Department is doing all it can to appease
                  Cuban-Americans and bolster support for President Bush's brother, Jeb Bush, who is
                  running for re-election as Florida's governor.

                  "They're trying to ensure that Jeb doesn't lose a single vote," Mr. de Armas said.

                  Ms. Huddleston said she was speaking up only because she wanted to express her
                  views on the U.S.-Cuba relationship.

                  Some Cuban-Americans started worrying that there was a warming of relations after
                  Cuba recently began buying grain and other agricultural products from the United
                  States.

                  In another apparent sign of improving relations, Cuba refrained from criticizing the
                  American decision to house Taliban prisoners at the U.S. naval base in
                  Guantánamo, Cuba.

                  U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a longtime Castro foe who represents Florida, asked
                  Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday if policy changes were expected, and
                  he said no.

                  Ms. Huddleston reiterated that message on Thursday before a small gathering of
                  non-Cuban reporters.

                  "You can't say from one day to the next that the relationship is better," she said.
                  "Nothing has changed fundamentally in Cuba."