DATE=5/13/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BUSH/CARTER/CUBA (S-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-289742

BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The White House is calling on Cuban President Fidel Castro to allow his people to live in freedom. This, as former U-S President Jimmy Carter continues his landmark visit to Cuba. We have more from V-O-A White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson.

TEXT: When asked by reporters about Jimmy Carter's trip to Cuba, White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer used the opportunity to lash out at Fidel Castro's human rights record.

Mr. Fleischer said President Castro should focus on basic freedoms. He said the Cuban people should be free to speak however they want, and to worship however they want. He also called for freedom of the press.

The White House spokesman noted that Fidel Castro remarked that President Carter is free to travel wherever he wants. President Bush's spokesman then wondered aloud why there is one standard for a visitor and a far more repressive standard for the Cuban people.

Jimmy Carter arrived in Havana on Sunday, as the first U-S head of state in or out of office to visit Cuba since Fidel Castro took power in 1959. On Monday, he toured a major biotechnology lab, just one week after U-S officials accused the Castro government of trying to develop biological weapons. Havana has denied the charges. (signed)

NEB/PW/TW