Chamber Chief Wants Embargo Eased

                  By Martha M. Hamilton
                  Washington Post Staff Writer
 

                  U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas J. Donohue said yesterday
                  that a visit to Cuba by members of the business group opens the door to
                  further communications with the island nation's small corps of
                  entrepreneurs.

                  Donohue, who just returned from a three-day visit that included a nearly
                  seven-hour meeting with Cuban President Fidel Castro, said he doesn't
                  expect Cuba to embrace capitalism, noting that the handful of private
                  businesses there were created purely out of economic necessity.

                  "It's not an easy road to travel, but it is an important road to travel,"
                  Donohue said of what are expected to be continuing efforts to help foster
                  private enterprise in Cuba.

                  The visit by Donohue, whose organization represents 3 million U.S.
                  businesses, was granted a license by the Clinton administration as part of
                  what an administration spokesman described as an ongoing effort to help
                  the Cuban people while isolating Castro's regime.

                  Trade with Cuba has been embargoed for 37 years. The chamber and
                  other business interests have called for ending unilateral trade embargoes
                  against Cuba and other nations, and Donohue reiterated the call to ease
                  trade relations with Cuba yesterday.

                  "The appropriate time is now," he said.

                  The rationale for easing restrictions on trade is that it will help foster
                  democracy and economic development. But businesses in the United
                  States and elsewhere are also interested in Cuba's considerable natural
                  resources and in the potential market for tourism there.

                  The Clinton administration has allowed limited trade in food and medicine
                  but not broader trade and tourism.

                  Donohue, who was clearly charmed by Castro, described the Cuban
                  leader as "a very smart person and very strong in his convictions."

                  He said that they discussed the importance of the Internet and said Castro
                  was very aware of the potential impact of a surge in tourism, of the
                  increase in the free flow of information and of the changes in other
                  economies in the hemisphere.

                  Noting that capitalism isn't free of regulation, Donohue said, "There are
                  more bureaucrats in the U.S. regulating free enterprise than there are
                  Cuban citizens. . . . I offered to trade him lawyers for cigars, but I couldn't
                  get a deal."

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