Carter wraps up Cuba trip

Jimmy Carter speaks in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter rounded off his trip to Cuba on Friday by meeting with 20 Cuban dissidents in Havana.

"Overall, I have been pleased with my trip and I recognized far in advance that after 43 years of misunderstanding and animosity that one brief trip could not change basic relationships between people, " Carter said Friday at a news conference. "But my hope is that in some small way, my visit might improve the situation in the future."

He conceded in an interview with CNN that the current U.S. administration is adamant about restricting travel to Cuba and said that future presidents may not hold to the same policy.

The meeting with the dissidents included opposition and independent journalists, independent librarians and leaders of opposition movements and took place at the chief U.N. representative's residence.

Among those at the meeting were Vladimiro Roca, one of the "Group of Four" arrested in July 1997 for publishing documents criticizing Cuba's Communist Party and President Fidel Castro.

Roca had been serving a five-year term. He was freed from prison a week before Carter's arrival in what was perceived as a positive gesture to Carter and his stand on human rights. Roca's father -- Blas Roca -- was a founding father of the Cuban Communist Party.

The other members of the "Group of Four" -- Martha Beatriz Roque, Rene Gomez Manzano, Felix Bonne Carcases -- also attended the meeting with Carter.

One of Cuba's oldest and best-known dissidents -- Gustavo Arcos Bergnes -- was there, too. He fought in the Cuban revolution, during which he was captured and imprisoned in the early years of the fighting.

Later he served as Castro's ambassador to Belgium, but in the 1960s he was imprisoned for "counter-revolutionary activity," according to the Free Cuba Foundation.

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Carter is making the first visit to Cuba by a former or sitting U.S. president since the 1959 communist revolution. He has chided Cuba over its lack of human rights, but said the United States "should take the first step" in changing the relationship between the countries.

While calling for the U.S. Congress to end the nearly 40-year economic embargo, Carter said the embargo alone is not responsible for Cuba's economic problems, noting that Cuba can trade with more than 100 countries.

"But the embargo freezes the existing impasse, induces anger and resentment, restricts the freedoms of U.S. citizens and makes it difficult for us to exchange ideas and respect," he said in a speech to the Cuban people.