U.S. Approves Jimmy Carter Trip to Cuba -- Sources

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 09, 2002

U.S. Approves Jimmy Carter Trip to Cuba -- Sources

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Washington has approved a request from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to visit Cuba, making him potentially the most senior U.S. figure on the communist-run island since the 1959 revolution, U.S. government sources said on Tuesday.

"He will probably come in mid-May," one of the sources said, confirming Carter had received permission for a license to visit the Caribbean nation -- needed because of a U.S. prohibition on normal travel by Americans to Cuba.

Carter is a critic of long-standing U.S. sanctions on Cuba and is deemed by President Fidel Castro to be the friendliest of the 10 U.S. presidents to have held office during his 43-year rule.

While his visit is sure to bolster the anti-embargo lobby in the United States, the White House is probably calculating Carter will also press Castro on human rights and democracy issues, including the cases of some jailed dissidents.

Carter, known for his globe-trotting to monitor elections and press humanitarian causes, would be the only former or sitting U.S. president to travel to Cuba under Castro, from whom he has a long-standing invitation to visit.

"We want him to see our country, not so that he supports us or anything like that, indeed so that he may make all the criticisms he wants," Castro said recently, reiterating the offer after hearing Carter wanted to come.

"If he wants, we'll fill Revolution Square so they can criticize us as much as they want, because we are so convinced of the moral, ethical, ideological, political and human strength of our revolution," Castro added.

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