By Pablo Bachelet

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite a recent setback, American opponents of the long-standing U.S. trade
 embargo against Cuba think they stand a good chance of getting the four-decade-old sanctions against
 the Castro government eased this year.

 A joint U.S. Senate and House of Representatives conference committee earlier this month stripped
 provisions from a budgetary appropriations bill that would have relaxed travel and trade restrictions with
 Cuba in 2003.

 The amendments sought to deny the Bush administration funds needed to enforce key elements of the
 embargo, like a travel ban to Cuba for most Americans and a $1,200 annual cap on the remittances
 Cuban-Americans can send to their relatives.

 But a growing movement of embargo opponents in Congress feel they are gaining ground and could
 overturn or relax the four-decade-old sanctions against the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

 "We're gaining momentum all the time," said Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who fought hard to
 overturn the embargo last year.

 Flake argues that the administration should use its resources to fight terrorism rather than "essentially
 track down grandmothers traveling to Cuba."

 Flake plans to present a bill that would end travel restrictions to Cuba and says he has already garnered
 50 Republican and Democrat co-sponsors.

 The bill is the newest legislative initiative in a long standoff that has pitted a well-organized Florida
 Cuban-American constituency and the White House against a growing coalition of business leaders and
 bipartisan legislators that want to trade more with the Castro regime.

 BILL TO EASE TRADE

 Two senators earlier this month presented a bill to make trade with Cuba easier. "It is time to end the
 embargo," said Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana and one of the bill's sponsors.

 Embargo foes argue that sanctions have failed to force Castro to implement democratic reforms, and they
 point to how trade with China has triggered economic reforms there.

 Those backing the embargo say concessions to Castro should only take place if the Cuban leader first
 carries out democratic and human rights reforms.

 Despite growing majorities in both chambers that favor lifting sanctions, the Flake and Baucus bills face
 crippling procedural delays and the threat of a White House veto.

 But embargo supporters are going to have a harder time holding their ground in the new 108th Congress,
 opponents say.

 Brian Alexander of the Cuba Policy Foundation, a bipartisan group that wants to lift the embargo,
 estimates a solid 230 House votes in favor of eliminating the travel ban, against 148 congressmen who
 oppose such a move.

 FRIENDLIER SENATE

 Cuba observers agree that the pro-embargo camp is getting weaker, especially in the Senate, with the
 recent departures of high-profile backers like Sens. Jesse Helms and Robert Torricelli. "You're gaining
 support and you're losing opposition," said Alexander.

 This increases the chances that the House and Senate may be able to agree to a common bill that foils
 the kind of procedural delays that has thwarted past attempts to ease sanctions.

 But this does not mean the embargo opponents have a clear path to victory. "All the central components
 of the current stalemate are still in place," said Dan Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington
 think-tank.

 These include a White House that refuses to budge on the embargo and a House leadership under Texas
 Rep. Tom DeLay that wants to maintain restrictions, despite some Congress rank-and-file members who
 prefer to ease the embargo.

 And pro-embargo legislators, said Erikson, are well placed in key committees to keep bills from even
 getting voted on.

 Even so, said Erikson, "since 2000, the anti-Castro constituency has been playing defense as opposed to
 offense. In the 1990s, they were playing offense and winning." Back in 1996, for instance, Congress
 approved the Helms-Burton Act, which tightened the embargo.

 "We know that we have our work cut out for us," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a firm embargo backer
 and a Cuban-American Florida Republican.

 Recognizing that the pro-embargo camp has "lost some champions" in the Senate, she nonetheless
 remains upbeat, saying that other senators, like Virginia Republican George Allen, will "step up at the
 plate" to oppose initiatives easing sanctions.

 Finally, she said the Cuba embargo group can count on a "true ally" in President Bush.

 "As long as we have George W. in the White House, he will maintain a firm line. He has told me personally
 and he has said it publicly: He will not loosen sanctions against Castro."