HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Belgium's foreign minister met with opponents of
                 Fidel Castro's government Friday after a late night dinner with the
                 Cuban president to discuss relations between the European Union and the
                 communist island.

                 Foreign Minister Louis Mich el, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency,
                 sat down for breakfast Friday morning with four of Cuba's best known government
                 opponents.

                 Michel said the opponents stressed their desire for greater support from the EU.

                 The opponents were: economist Marta Beatriz Roque and attorney Rene Gomez
                 Manzano of the so-called "Group of Four"; Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, of Cuba's
                 Christian Liberation Movement; and Gerardo Sanchez, of the Cuban
                 Commission of Human Rights and Reconciliation.

                 After discussing Belgium's relations with Cuba late Thursday, Castro told
                 reporters: "I have always seen them as good and in the future they have to be
                 better."

                 But Castro declined to comment on Cuba's relations with the EU, which have
                 been ticklish since several European countries joined a United Nations vote to
                 condemn the communist country for its human rights record. Castro said that
                 was an issue to be dealt with by foreign ministers.

                 The Cuban leader, dressed in a formal dark suit and tie, then accompanied
                 Michel to dinner at his headquarters on Revolution Plaza.

                 "I think it was really useful," Michel said of the meeting with Castro. "We are
                 trying to make possible a good understanding that will improve the relationship
                 between Cuba and Europe."

                 Michel's three-day visit to this Caribbean island, which winds up Friday, has
                 been described in Europe as a mission to smooth over Cuba-EU relations.

                 Other EU representatives who arrived here with Michel on Wednesday, were
                 Spanish state secretary Miguel Angel Cortes Martin and a representative for the
                 union's External Relations Commissioner Christopher Patten.

                 European nations last year backed a motion that condemned Havana at the U.N.
                 Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Cuban officials immediately responded
                 by canceling a trip to the EU and later said they would not participate in the
                 union's aid-and-trade pact with developing countries.

                 Earlier this week in Brussels, a spokesman for Michel said that the EU
                 representatives would try to restart a dialogue with Cuba.

                 Signaling that that Havana remains sensitive about the EU, the Cuban Foreign
                 Ministry issued a three-paragraph communique Wednesday afternoon,
                 characterizing the trip as a visit by the Belgian foreign minister - not a EU
                 mission.

                 While Michel was accompanied by representatives of other EU countries or
                 institutions, a "so-called troika" of EU officials "has not been invited to Cuba,"
                 the communique said, referring to media reports about the visit.

                 Cuba last year withdrew its application to join the EU's pact with the world's
                 poorest countries following the rift over human rights policies.

                 Joining the group of former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the
                 Pacific would give Cuba trade preferences with the EU. Cuba is a former
                 Spanish colony.

                 Nevertheless, some EU nations said they would withhold any trade perks for the
                 communist country because of its human rights record.

                 Cuba already does about 40 percent of its trade with EU nations. More than half
                 of the government's joint ventures with foreign companies involve capital from
                 those countries.

                 In March, the European Commission provided 8 million euros ($ 7.4 million) in
                 humanitarian aid for Cuba, aiming to improve living conditions for elderly and
                 disabled people on the island.

                 The EU gave Cuba 17 million euros ($15.6 million) in aid last year. It provided a
                 total of 78 million euros (d$71.8 million) in humanitarian aid in Cuba from 1993
                 to 2000.

                   Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.