Shortly before flying back to Washington later in the day at the end of a
                  fact-finding trip, the two Democrats and one Republican also reiterated their
                  opposition to the four-decade-old economic embargo of Cuba.

                  "Cuba is not a national security threat to the United States. ... There is no reason
                  why the United States and Cuba may not have normal relations. It's a no-brainer,"
                  Montana's Democratic Sen. Max Baucus told a news conference.

                  "We did not see anything here that's changed our mind," he added, arguing the
                  trade ban unnecessarily hurt both nations.

                  The centerpiece of the senators' trip was a marathon session with Cuba's
                  73-year-old communist leader at Revolution Palace in Havana stretching from
                  Saturday afternoon until around 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

                  The senators said they tackled Castro on human rights, the free flow of
                  information, the need for economic opening and preparations for a transition
                  once he leaves power. But like many of the foreign dignitaries whom Castro likes
                  to receive for such mammoth sessions, they were glowing about his personal
                  manner.

                  "Unique version" of history

                  "He was articulate, very charming, very hospitable, very entertaining," Sen. Pat
                  Roberts, a Kansas Republican, said. "He has his own unique version of world
                  history and virtually every other subject that we discussed for 10 hours."

                  "President Castro has been very gracious to us. ... He is a delightful person to
                  speak with, very engaging," said the third member of the delegation, Sen. Daniel
                  Akaka, a Democrat from Hawaii.

                  While the senators support lifting economic sanctions on Cuba, they also believe
                  Castro should begin reforming his one-party socialist political system and
                  state-run economy.

                  The embargo, Baucus said, "gives Fidel Castro the excuse for failed economic
                  policies, it gives Fidel Castro an excuse for continued repression." Roberts said
                  "U.S. trade to Cuba depends as much on the Cuban government being prepared
                  to consider economic reforms as on U.S. changes."

                  In their 10 hours with Castro -- during which he spoke for 70 percent of the
                  time, the senators estimated -- and in meetings with Cuban ministers, "we
                  pressed them very strongly" on such concerns, Baucus said.

                  On the prospects for free-market economic openings, "I didn't get some good
                  answers," Baucus said. The political discussion tackled such subjects as why
                  Cuba does not allow its people free access to international newspapers or
                  television.

                  Castro "got pretty defensive," Baucus said, when his guests commented on
                  Havana's dilapidated condition.

                  Cuba's future discussed

                  The senators said Castro had seemed particularly preoccupied with the future of
                  Cuba after him. "I think the issue is clearly on his mind. One of the first
                  questions he asked was what happens under our constitution when the president
                  is incapacitated," Baucus said.

                  "He also raised it at the end. I think he wanted to assure us that the transition can
                  be smooth and the tenets that he stands for can be preserved," Roberts said,
                  adding, "I don't think he is planning on retiring any time soon."

                  Castro, in power since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, has insisted that his
                  system will continue after him, maintained by other members of his government.
                  Cuban officials normally scoff in public at talk of a post-Castro "transition."

                  The only concrete announcement the senators made during their trip was of a
                  U.S.-funded $1 million bilateral program to improve coast guard cooperation in
                  the war on illicit drugs. Anti-drug cooperation between Washington and Havana
                  is carried out case by case, with no formal accords, since the two capitals cut
                  diplomatic ties soon after Castro came to power.

                  The senators were eager to promote congressional moves to modify the U.S.
                  embargo by allowing unfettered sales of food and medicine to Cuba for the first
                  time. "If we could just consummate a breakthrough sale, it would be very
                  important," Roberts said.