By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          WASHINGTON (AP) -- Madeleine Albright, much like her 10
          immediate predecessors, is stepping down as secretary of state with
          Cuban President Fidel Castro as firmly entrenched as ever, and the
          prospect does not please her.

          ``People ask me what I'm really disappointed in,'' Albright said recently,
          reflecting on her four years in office. ``The Middle East is one. The other
          is that I didn't see a change in Cuba.''

          Castro is no less discouraged about U.S. policies. During the campaign,
          Castro and his lieutenants complained that neither George W. Bush nor
          Al Gore showed any hint of a more flexible policy toward his regime.

          Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell offers Cubans little comfort.

          A decade ago, following the collapse of a number of communist regimes,
          some as a result of U.S. military pressure, Powell, then chairman of the
          Joint Chiefs of Staff, put Cuba on a short list of hostile countries where
          he said change was needed. Coming from the Pentagon's top officer,
          some Cuban officials saw the remark as a warning.

          Bush said in August he has no plans to ease the Cuban embargo, in place
          for 38 years.

          ``I challenge the Castro regime to surprise the world and adopt the ways
          of democracy,'' he said at the time. ``Until it frees political prisoners and
          holds free elections and allows free speech, I will keep the current
          sanctions in place.''

          Says Robert Zoellick, a top foreign policy adviser to Bush and the
          president-elect's pick to be U.S. trade representative: ``Sadly, economic
          ties to Cuba will not benefit the people. Today, they will just empower
          Castro's secret police, his army, and his chokehold on the country.''

          For his part, Castro has shown no interest in reaching out to the United
          States. Last year, his regime erected facilities adjacent to the U.S.
          diplomatic mission in Havana as a permanent venue for anti-American
          demonstrations.

          To protest credit restrictions on otherwise newly unhindered U.S. food
          and medical sales to the island, the Cuban government turned out
          800,000 demonstrators last fall -- almost 10 percent of the island's
          population. Nationally televised anti-American round-table discussions
          are another regime staple.

          One indicator of the Bush administration's view of Cuba will occur in July
          when it must decide whether to waive or enforce legislation that allows
          Americans to sue in U.S. courts foreign companies operating on Cuban
          properties that were confiscated from the Americans.

          Since the law was approved in 1996, President Clinton invariably has
          exercised his waiver authority, much to the annoyance of
          Cuban-American lawmakers and of the chairman of the Senate Foreign
          Relations Committee, Jesse Helms, R-N.C. a co-author of the legislation.

          Superficially, relations between the two countries seem frozen in time --
          but that is misleading.

          Dan Fisk, an associate at the conservative Heritage Foundation, notes
          that pro-embargo forces have had to contend with a well-organized
          corporate campaign that persuaded Congress to ease restrictions on the
          sale of humanitarian necessities last year.

          Fisk says the campaign is just beginning. ``The long term focus is the end
          of restrictions on U.S. intercourse with the island,'' he says.

          Another new wrinkle under Clinton has been an emphasis on
          people-to-people contacts between Americans and Cubans.

          More and more Americans are visiting the island. Officials believe that
          such contacts are an antidote to the regime's rhetoric and could nurture
          pro-democracy sentiments, but many in the anti-Castro camp believe the
          administration may have oversold the concept.

          Bush is getting plenty of advice on Cuba policy.

          James R. Jones, who served Clinton as ambassador to Mexico and is
          now linked to the liberal Center for National Policy, says the embargo is
          ``no longer sustainable'' and should end. He also urges cooperative
          arrangements with Cuba on such issues as countering narcotics
          traffickers. Clinton generally has limited bilateral discussions to migration
          issues.

          A panel of the Council on Foreign Relations, in a recent report, said an
          easing of the embargo would help facilitate a transition in Cuba and
          reduce the possibility of turmoil in the post-Castro era. This, in turn,
          would lessen pressures for U.S. military intervention, the report said.

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          EDITOR'S NOTE -- George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The
          Associated Press since 1968.