WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- (AP) -- Cuba is willing to negotiate re-establishing relations with the United States, so long as no conditions are set regarding free elections on the communist island, a top Cuban diplomat said Monday.

 However, Dagoberto Rodriguez, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., said talks to improve relations between Fidel Castro and the United States are not imminent.

 "What we are hearing from the American people is a great desire to have normal and civilized relations,'' Rodriguez told The Palm Beach Post. "From what we're hearing from U.S. government officials, there isn't much hope of that happening soon.''

 Rodriguez, who became Cuba's Washington representative four months ago and is Castro's top diplomat in the United States, also addressed the 40-year-old trade
 embargo against Cuba while speaking to a Palm Beach social club.

 The lunch was not open to the press, but Rodriguez gave an interview afterward.

 Rodriguez said he has visited several cities to talk to the American public about lifting the embargo.

 While Cuban exile groups defend the embargo, recent food shipments to Cuba and Castro's lack of protests regarding the American military's use of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base indicate Cuba is slowing down its anti-American rhetoric.

 Cuba also is willing to negotiate dealing with the $1.8 billion in claims from U.S. corporations whose property was nationalized by Fidel Castro in 1960, Rodriguez said. But discussing democratic elections is not an option, he said.

 "We are willing to sit down in a civilized manner to discuss any issue of a bilateral nature, but not our internal affairs,'' he said.

 Cuban exiles hoping for radical change when the 75-year-old Castro dies or steps down will be disappointed, Rodriguez said.

 "There will be a tremendous impact psychologically, because Fidel has been such an important historical figure,'' he said. ``But Cuba is very organized and
 institutionalized. I don't foresee major changes.''

                                    © 2002