HAVANA - A delegation of prominent black Americans met President
                   Fidel Castro on Thursday and denounced the U.S. embargo of the
                   communist island, calling it especially hard on people of African descent.

                   ''American policies, 40 years in application, have hurt ordinary men,
                   woman and children in Cuba, and Afro-Cubans particularly, and it's simply
                   unacceptable,'' said Randall Robinson, president of the TransAfrica Forum,
                   a Washington-based group that works to influence U.S. policy toward
                   African and Caribbean states.

                   Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said he held talks
                   with Castro on Thursday dealing with issues ranging from human rights to
                   improving Canadian-Cuban ties.

                   Axworthy told reporters later that he mentioned the case of four
                   still-imprisoned Cuban dissidents whose release Canadian Prime Minister
                   Jean Chretien had sought during an April visit to Cuba.

                   But the focus appeared to be on cooperation rather than conflict with the
                   two nations agreeing to increase anti-drug cooperation and to allow an
                   exchange of prisoners so that inmates could serve time in their home
                   country.

                   ''It was really an opportunity to maintain a dialogue, an exchange,''
                   Axworthy said.

                   Axworthy said the U.S. announcement this week easing a few of the
                   country's sanctions against Cuba seemed to propose ''some degree of
                   constructive engagement,'' a policy that Canada has advocated in
                   opposition to the traditional U.S. policy of isolating Cuba.

                   ''We think there is a certain trend line in the United States toward a more
                   open attitude,'' he said.

                   Axworthy's visit seemed far less controversial than his 1997 trip to Cuba,
                   which was criticized by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and by the U.S. State
                   Department.

                   Since that time, Pope John Paul II has visited Cuba - as has Chretien.
                   Canada has strongly opposed the U.S. embargo of Cuba and has become
                   a major economic partner of Cuba.

                   Castro spent 2 1//2 hours early in the day with the 18-member TransAfrica
                   delegation, which included actor Danny Glover, as well as prominent
                   attorneys and scholars.

                   Robinson said the Cuban leader described his government's efforts to
                   overcome centuries of slavery and segregation and said Castro admitted
                   that more work needs to be done to end racism. He said that black
                   Cubans are over represented in Cuba's prisons.

                   ''Whatever kind of race problem still exists in Cuba is dwarfed by the race
                   problem that we have to contend with in the United States,'' Robinson.

                   Robinson called the embargo itself ''unjust, unfair and cruel'' and noted that
                   even former Republican secretaries of state recently called for a
                   reassessment of Cuba policy.

                   ''I think forces are gathering on all sides'' against the embargo ''because the
                   American people can see the essential silliness of this policy that has up
                   until now been controlled by a small group of white, wealthy Cubans who
                   fled to Miami 40 years ago.''

                   By The Associated Press