UNITED NATIONS · Despite U.S. efforts to topple Fidel Castro, Cuba is certain its communist government will be preserved and is optimistic that Cubans and Americans can be friends once the U.S. embargo is lifted, Cuba's foreign minister said Thursday.

Felipe Perez Roque made a sharp distinction between the U.S. government's hard-line toward the Cuban leader and the American public's and Congress' support for easing the sanctions during his visit to the U.N. General Assembly.

"We rely on the nobility and the sense of justice of the American people," he said. "We don't hold them accountable for our suffering. We believe that just like us, they have fallen victims to a policy that has been designed to serve the interests of a small minority."

Perez Roque said if Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry defeats President Bush in November and "lifts some of the blockade measures that would be positive, but it would not be enough."

"What needs to be done is to lift the blockade completely because it is rejected by the United Nations, both houses of the U.S. Congress, by the American people -- and it affects the interests and the rights of all the Cubans living in the United States," he said.

Kerry, like Bush, supports the U.S. embargo but has said he wants a review of policy toward the island, including a long-standing travel ban.

The Bush administration tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba in June as part of a package of measures aimed at squeezing the communist country's economy and pushing out Castro. Cuban authorities called it an electoral ploy to placate anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Florida.

Perez Roque said the new measures were having a "tremendous impact," especially on Cuban families in both countries.

"However, they are useless in trying to defeat the Cuban people," he said. "They will not meet their objectives. They are an indication of a failed policy that has no future."

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