FORMER U.S. DRUG TSAR MEETS CASTRO IN CUBA

HAVANA -- A retired U.S. Army general said Sunday he talked for 12 hours
with Fidel Castro and encouraged the Cuban president to release 250
political prisoners in this island's jails in an effort to encourage
dialogue with the United States.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, now a university professor visiting the island with
the Center for Defense Information, told a news conference that Cuba did
not present a military risk to the United States. "They represent zero
threat to the United States," he said.

The general said he told Cuban authorities during meetings on Saturday that
the United States did not present a military risk to the island, either. He
said he also met with Castro's younger brother, Gen. Raul Castro, Cuba's
defense minister.

McCaffrey said he supported increased cooperation between the United States
and Cuba in the areas of drug interdiction and fighting terrorism.

"I see no evidence at all that the Cubans are in any way facilitating drug
trafficking," the former White House drug policy director said. "Indeed, I
see good evidence of the opposite. I strong believe that Cuba is an island
of resistance to drug traffic."

Some Cuban exile groups and conservative members of Congress in the past
have accused the communist country of involvement in the narcotics trade.

McCaffrey said he also did not believe that Cuba was a terrorism threat to
the United States, as some Cuban exile groups insist. "I don't believe they
are harboring terrorist organizations," he said.

Cuba remains on the U.S. State Department's terrorism watch list, primarily
because of the presence on the island of some Basque separatists, former
members of Puerto Rican nationalist groups, and a handful of American
fugitives - many of them former Black Panthers - who have lived here for
decades.

Both the United States and Cuba must change to help create a dialogue
between the nations, said the general.

"It's time to leave the chasm of 1958-59 and move to 2002 - on both sides,"
said McCaffrey.

The United States should care more about Latin America in general and Cuba
in particular, he said, rather than allowing the Cuban-American community
to control the political debate over the Caribbean island.

Cuba also should do more to improve communication with the United States,
and releasing the political prisoners would be a good start, McCaffrey
said. He did not say what Castro's response was, except that he received
"an attentive and respectful hearing."

McCaffrey now teaches national security studies at West Point military
academy. The Center for Defense Information is an independent military
research organization based in Washington.

The trip is among a flood of visits Cuba has seen this year by American
groups seeking to learn more about the communist island just 90 miles from
U.S. shores.

The visitors have included members of Congress, business organizations,
representatives of non-governmental organizations.