MIAMI - An influential Cuban-American lobbying group said Friday it wants its leaders to travel to Cuba for a meeting with dissidents, reversing its longstanding refusal to travel to the communist-run island.
Several of the Cuban American National Foundation's 165 board members are hoping to travel to Cuba in May, the group said, though it was unclear whether Havana would allow them to enter Cuban territory.
In the past, any CANF member traveling to Cuba was asked to quit the organization, the leading Cuban-American lobbying group said.
CANF spokeswoman Camila Ruiz insisted the decision to travel to Cuba did not imply a policy change, stressing that the group has always been committed to doing what it can to support dissidents on the island.
"People should not travel to Cuba just because they want to ... but on this occasion we are talking of a historic event," she said.
An attempt to hold a similar meeting between Cuban dissidents and exiles was made in 1996, but authorities in Havana countered the plan by arresting 50 regime opponents just before the gathering was to take place.
The May 20 meeting was called by the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society, one the main illegal dissidents' groups in Cuba.
The group is headed by economist Marta Beatriz Roque, who informed the Havana government in January of the planned gathering.
Some US-based opponents of Cuban President Fidel Castro object to the gathering of exiles and internal dissidents.
"We do not agree to seek permission from the government of Cuba to enter (the country)," said Ninoska Perez of the Miami-based Council for the Liberty of Cuba.
Cuban exiles also would need clearance from Washington to travel to the island, which is under a 45-year-old US embargo.
03/11/2005 20:40 GMT