Georgian provoked dialogue among islanders

                 Mike Williams - Cox Caribbean Correspondent
 
                 Havana --- It was an electrifying moment: former President Jimmy Carter
                 speaking directly to the Cuban people, his uncensored words broadcast live on
                 radio and television across the entire island.

                 Seven months after Carter's historic speech from an ornate hall at Havana
                 University, little has changed on the surface in Cuba. Fidel Castro still rules his
                 country of 11 million with an iron fist, his people struggling to survive in a
                 moribund state-run economy that has been slowed by the worldwide tourism
                 downturn since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

                 But beneath the surface, change appears to be brewing in Cuba, and many here
                 say the visit by Carter --- who last month was presented the Nobel Prize for his
                 global work toward peace --- was a dramatic catalyst aiding forces that may one
                 day transform the island.

                 ''I was expecting a lot from his visit, but in reality, it exceeded my hopes,'' said
                 Oscar Espinosa, a former Cuban government economist who is now part of the
                 island's small dissident movement. ''The government has always manipulated its
                 visitors, yet President Carter was able to speak without any control. He said
                 things nobody has ever been able to say publicly, and he did so in a balanced,
                 respectful way. It was very powerful.''

                 Word is spread

                 Dissidents say the Carter visit, which included several meetings with top
                 opposition leaders, drew worldwide attention to their efforts, but also prompted a
                 new dialogue among thousands of everyday Cubans who have long been afraid of
                 questioning their government.

                 While there has been a crackdown on the opposition since Carter left, dissident
                 leaders say the visit inspired them to keep up their difficult, dangerous work.

                 ''He was able to do what none of us as Cuban citizens can do --- give our
                 opinions openly and freely,'' said Oswaldo Paya, another top Cuban dissident.
                 ''He gave a voice to those who have no voice.''

                 During his 20-minute speech, delivered in Spanish edged with a Georgia drawl,
                 Carter praised Cuba's health and education systems, but also pointedly
                 criticized the nation's Communist rulers for choking off free speech and not
                 allowing open, democratic elections.

                 The most controversial moment came when Carter praised the Varela Project, a
                 petition drive calling for a referendum on government reforms.

                 Prior to Carter's speech, almost no Cubans outside the tiny opposition had heard
                 of the petition drive, which has managed to gather several thousand signatures
                 despite widespread fear of Castro's omipresent security apparatus.

                 While allowing publication of the full text of the speech in state-run newspapers
                 the next day, Castro ignored Carter's references to the Varela Project during the
                 rest of the former president's weeklong visit.

                 An anti-Bush petition?

                 Within a month, however, Castro organized his own petition drive, in which 99
                 percent of Cuba's 8 million voters supported a constitutional amendment
                 declaring Cuba's socialist system ''untouchable.''

                 Castro insisted the petition was not a response to the Varela Project, but was
                 instead aimed at countering remarks by President Bush, who shortly after
                 Carter's visit said the U.S. embargo --- imposed during the 1960s after Cuba
                 became a Communist state --- would not be lifted until Cuba adopts democratic
                 reforms.

                 Today, Cuban officials praise the Carter visit, pointing out that they broadcast his
                 speech live to the nation and gave him unlimited access to meet with citizens,
                 including dissidents.

                 As to the Varela Project, Carter ''was free to express his ideas and we respect
                 his opinion, although we totally disagree,'' said Rafael Dausa, director of the
                 North American Division of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

                 ''Unfortunately, the Varela Project is completely manipulated by the U.S.
                 government and the Miami mafia,'' Dausa said, using a term for anti-Castro
                 Cuban-Americans. ''It is not a legitimate project. It is imported and imposed from
                 abroad.''

                 It could be argued that U.S.-Cuba relations have in fact worsened since the
                 Carter visit, as Bush has tightened enforcement of the restrictions that bar most
                 Americans from visiting the island and has confirmed his determination to uphold
                 the U.S. embargo on trade with Cuba, despite opinion polls showing most
                 Americans oppose it.

                 At the same time, though, a steady stream of American business and
                 government leaders continues visiting Cuba, and a new bipartisan working group
                 in Congress has become a powerful voice advocating an end to the embargo.

                 U.S. firms are allowed to sell food and medicine to Cuba, but only if the Cubans
                 pay in cash, up front. Trade experts predict that about $175 million in U.S. goods
                 will be shipped to Cuba this year.

                 In Cuba, there seems to be a growing appetite for change, although few people
                 are willing to talk openly about politics.

                 Most focus on their daily struggle to survive in a nation where the average
                 monthly wage hovers around $12. Cuba's economic growth rate fell from 5.6
                 percent in 2000 to 3 percent in 2001, the last full year for which data is available,
                 while revenues in the vital tourism sector slipped from $2.3 billion to $2.2 billion.

                 Castro's revolution tottered in 1989 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and an
                 end to $6 billion in annual Soviet subsidies, but the wily Cuban leader held his
                 country together by turning to tourism.

                 Partnering with private firms from Canada, Spain, Italy and other countries, Cuba
                 has built a thriving destination attracting visitors in search of cheap holidays filled
                 with Cuban sun, music, food and culture.

                 But tourism has spawned social tensions. Most Cubans are barred from visiting
                 tourist resorts, while workers in the industry earn far more in tips than average
                 Cubans, creating wealth disparities in a socialist nation where all are supposed
                 to be equal.

                 Meanwhile, despite the infusion of foreign investment, Cuba's infrastructure is
                 crumbling. Citizens constantly complain about crowded, dirty public buses, while
                 roads, sewers, water lines and most of Havana's historic skyline all need billions
                 of dollars worth of refurbishment.

                 Underlying the tensions is the uncertainty over who might succeed Castro. While
                 the Cuban dictator shows few signs of slowing down and no appetite for
                 retirement at 76, it is clear he will one day exit the stage and Cuba will be faced
                 with a possible leadership vacuum.

                 Most experts believe Castro will be succeeded by his brother, Raul Castro, head
                 of the Cuban military, who might serve as a figurehead in a junta with younger
                 leaders who would manage the day-to-day affairs of the government.

                 But change won't come easily in a society that has stifled free expression for 44
                 years.

                 Dissident leaders say Castro has cracked down in the wake of the Carter visit,
                 expelling some university students active in the movement, breaking up
                 meetings and recently imprisoning an outspoken critic of the regime, Dr. Oscar
                 Elias Biscet.

                 Still, they are encouraged by the publicity Carter generated for the Varela
                 Project. A leading dissident who does not support the project, Marta Beatriz
                 Roque, has organized opposition groups, while Paya, the Varela Project
                 organizer, was recently awarded the European Union's top human rights prize.

                 Meanwhile, the Varela Project work continues, now aided by committees all over
                 Cuba that are gathering signatures and spreading the word about a petition few
                 had heard of before Carter's speech.

                 ''Carter took away the veil,'' Paya said. ''We still have very difficult moments to
                 come, but it proves that there are thousands of Cubans who are not afraid to
                 say, 'We deserve our rights of free speech and a voice in our government.' Now
                 there is real hope. Fear is the most potent weapon of totalitarian governments.
                 We are moving forward without fear or hate.''