UNITED NATIONS -- (AP) -- Cuba's foreign minister called a U.S. offer of assistance for the first time since the United States imposed a trade embargo in 1961 "a positive signal'' and declared that Havana was ready for normal relations with Washington.

 In an interview with The Associated Press, Felipe Perez Roque said he hoped the U.S. offer of help after Hurricane Michelle devastated the island nation earlier this month signaled a change in policy by President George W. Bush.

 Asked what Cuba would consider a positive, follow-up action by the Bush administration, he replied: ``To allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba.'' Unless granted waivers, U.S. citizens are banned from Cuban travel.

 Cuba has been under a U.S. trade embargo since shortly after Fidel Castro defeated the CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. His communist nation, just 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Miami, has continued to vex subsequent U.S. administrations.

 Perez Roque said U.S. policy toward Cuba has been ``held hostage'' by a minority of Cuban-Americans opposed to lifting trade restrictions.

 He said "it would be very positive'' if Bush decided ``to go beyond the influence'' of this small group ``from the far right in Miami'' and pay closer attention to U.S. public opinion, which he said supported lifting the embargo. Bush has previously vowed not to ease the trade ban.

 Even though Cuba has suffered under the U.S. embargo, Perez Roque said, its people have ``no grudges or ill-feelings'' toward Americans.

 Cuba, he said, "stands ready to have normal, respectful relations with the United States.''

 There have been no political discussions between the two countries since 1982. As the price for normal relations, the United States demands that Castro replace his
 communist system with democracy.

 Perez Roque said that, although Cuba turned down the offer of U.S. aid, it has opened talks with the United States for a one-time cash purchase of food and medicine to replenish stocks depleted by the hurricane.

 Creating a small opening in the trade embargo, the U.S. Congress last year legalized sales of food to the communist island for the first time since 1961. The Cuban
 government vowed not to buy "a single gram'' of American food unless Washington did more to loosen or do away with the trade restrictions.

 But Castro made an exception because of the devastation of Hurricane Michelle, which destroyed hundreds of thousands of houses and vast tracts of farmland. Perez Roque called it the worst hurricane to hit Cuba in half a century, saying it decimated the country's banana plantations and badly affected the citrus and sugar crops.

 "The government of the United States offered assistance to us. They offered to send some people from the United States to make an assessment on the damage, and then provide assistance,'' the foreign minister said.

 "We replied that it was very positive that, for the first time ever after 40 years, the United States was going to have a gesture of this nature toward Cuba,'' he said.

 Perez Roque didn't say why Cuba had rejected the U.S. help and offered instead to pay cash for food and medicine, but he reiterated that the government wanted to seize "that positive offer made by the government of the United States.''

 The foreign minister said the fact that the highest levels of the Bush administration have to authorize a special permit for the shipments ``proves how irrational the
 blockade of the United States against Cuba is, and how pointless it is to maintain the current blockade restrictions.''

 U.S.-Cuban talks are under way through diplomatic channels, Perez Roque said, and he is ``moderately optimistic'' that an agreement will be reached to allow the
 shipments of food and medicine.

 Cuban officials have presented a list of goods for examination by U.S. officials, and also have contacted 15 agricultural and pharmaceutical companies in the United
 States, he said.

 U.S. sources estimated the value of the products requested by Cuba at between dlrs 3 million and dlrs 10 million, but Perez Roque couldn't confirm the figures.

 The foreign minister indicated that, if approved, the goods would be shipped on U.S. or third-country vessels. The United States rejected a Cuban request that the goods be transported on Cuban ships, U.S. sources said. Perez Roque indicated that Cuban boats might be subject to seizure in U.S. waters.

 Pamela Falk, a law professor and consultant to several grain and producer groups, called the expected deal ``a toe in the door'' and predicted that U.S. sales to Cuba could reach dlrs 1 billion a year if political conditions were to improve.
 

                                    © 2001 The Miami Herald