Bush wants no Castro-swap in Cuba

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush isn't satisfied with leadership in Cuba being transferred from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul, The New York Times reported.

At a White House briefing Tuesday on a speech Bush was to deliver Wednesday to Cuban dissidents at the U.S. State Department, officials said Bush will call on Cubans to demand democracy instead of accepting the year-old health-related power transition to the same communist rule, the Times said.

Bush will introduce relatives of four Cuban dissidents in Cuban jails for alleged political crimes to "put a human face" on the political oppression under the Castro brothers, officials said.

Bush was expected to make offers of incentives such as allowing religious groups to send computers to Cuba and expanding cultural exchanges, White House officials said.

However, John Kavulich, senior policy adviser at the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, told the Times that angle would fall on deaf ears, as those incentives are already being provided to Cuba by Venezuela and China.