Republican leaders in Congress on Thursday ordered a proposal to allow
                  U.S. food and medicine sales to Cuba dropped from a $69 billion bill to
                  fund the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year that begins Friday.

                  They gave the order to avoid possible defeat of the funding bill, after a
                  week-long stalemate with lawmakers in Florida and other states who
                  derided the food and medicine proposal as a plum for Cuba's Communist
                  leader, President Fidel Castro. The anti-Castro lawmakers oppose any
                  relaxation of a U.S. trade embargo imposed against Cuba in the early
                  1960s.

                  "I'm for sales to Cuba too but it should be to Cuba, not the dictatorship,"
                  said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, in an interview.

                  U.S. farm groups had lobbied hard for an end to the embargo, saying Cuba
                  could become a $1 billion a year market for food exports. Many U.S.
                  business groups also want access to Cuba.

                  In Havana, Castro said that Cuba could wait as long as the U.S. wants for
                  the embargo to end. He also thanked those U.S. lawmakers who supported
                  the food and medicine proposal.

                  "We simply want to express our gratitude to the numerous congressmen who
                  fought honestly and bravely in favor of the sale of food and medicine," he
                  said. "Although that would not have solved the problem, we see it as an
                  important step."

                  Clinton administration opposes plan

                  The White House opposed the food and medicine proposal, saying it would
                  hamper the president's ability to conduct foreign policy. The proposal would
                  have required approval from Congress for any embargo on food and
                  medicine sales except during wartime or for foreign policy and national
                  security grounds.

                  Despite the Clinton administration's opposition to easing the embargo, its
                  new point man for Cuba on Thursday said the U.S. wants to promote more
                  "people to people" contact between the U.S. and Cuba.

                  "Supporting the Cuban people is central to our policy," said Charles
                  Shapiro, the new director of the U.S. Office of Cuban Affairs. "It is central
                  to a peaceful transition and to preparing Cuba for democracy."

                  Agriculure bill scheduled for debate

                  House and Senate negotiators have cleared the agriculture funding bill for
                  floor votes, and it is expected to be called for debate in the House on Friday
                  under rules that will not allow it to be amended. The Senate voted 70-28 last
                  month in favor of allowing food and medicine sales to Cuba.

                  This marks the second time in a year that a proposal to exempt food and
                  medicine sales from U.S. embargoes has been killed during House-Senate
                  negotiations over the final version of an agriculture spending bill. Trade with
                  Cuba was the sticking point last year as well.

                       CNN correspondent Lucia Newman and Reuters contributed to this report.