HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Cubans yawned over the U.S. presidential election on
                  Tuesday, saying it really doesn't matter who wins because the outcome is
                  unlikely to change the country's relations with the United States.

                  The communist workers weekly Trabajadores called the contest "the most
                  boring election of all time," saying Texas Gov. George Bush and Vice President
                  Al Gore were so similar that it was difficult to tell them apart.

                  President Fidel Castro said Monday he couldn't decide if he would rather work
                  Tuesday or go to the beach -- as he has suggested Americans do on Election
                  Day.

                  Castro made his suggestion last week during a news conference capping a
                  five-day state visit to Venezuela.

                  "Neither of them interests me in the least," Castro said of the candidates. "I don't
                  expect anything from either of them."

                  Regardless of the outcome, Castro has promised to continue resisting U.S.
                  pressure, and has said he does not believe the four-decade trade embargo against
                  Cuba can last forever.

                  Wayne Smith, who served as chief U.S. diplomat in Havana during the Reagan
                  and Carter administrations, agreed on Monday that neither candidate is expected
                  to do much with U.S.-Cuba policy.

                  Both Gore and Bush have said they would insist on democratic change in Cuba
                  before supporting an end to trade sanctions.

                  If any real change in U.S-Cuba policy occurs in the next four years, it is more
                  likely to come from Capitol Hill than the White House, Smith said.

                  Although President Clinton has moved to increase contact between Cuban and
                  American citizens, all proposals for more substantial change in relations between
                  the two countries have originated in Congress, he noted.

                  U.S. lawmakers have made numerous proposals to ease the trade sanctions over
                  the past year, only to have them narrowly defeated or watered down amid
                  concerns about the Cuban-American vote in the months leading up to the general
                  elections.

                  Cuban officials complain the only legislative proposal that became law -- the
                  agricultural appropriation bill, which permits the export of food and medicine to
                  Cuba -- makes the import of U.S. food too difficult to be practical.

                  Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.