ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
  Associated Press

  HAVANA - A Baptist minister who sits on Cuba's parliament worried Thursday that politics will hurt relations between churches here and in the United States after failing again to get an American visa for a long-planned visit.

  The Rev. Raul Suarez was invited by American church groups to take part in religious conferences and other Black History Month events in Mobile, Ala., and Boston.

  "I presented my application 14 weeks ago," Suarez told The Associated Press. To participate in the planned events "I would have to travel this Sunday at the latest," he
  added.

  Officials at the U.S. Interests Section, the American mission in Havana, declined to comment on the case, citing confidentiality rules.

  Suarez is a deputy on Cuba's National Assembly, or parliament, and directs the church-run Dr. Martin Luther King Center in Havana.

  The U.S. government has traditionally denied visas to many higher-ranking Cuban officials and leaders of the island's Communist Party.

  But while he is a lawmaker, Suarez said he has never belonged to the Communist Party, nor any other political organization here.

  "Every country has the right to grant (a visa) or not, but I worry about shutting down such a fluid exchange between the churches of both countries," Suarez said.

  He said he was granted visas to visit the United States several times in the past. But starting in 2000, he has not received answers for several requests for American visas to participate in church events in the United States.

  "I don't want to go as a lawmaker, I only want to go as the pastor of a church, with my regular passport," Suarez added.