When Democrats take control of Congress in January, one of the second-tier issues they will face at the same time as they address top-tier items such as the war in Iraq is whether to ease travel restrictions and other sanctions against Cuba.

Even with the Castro government still maintaining power in the island nation, the new Congress should set the process in motion for bettering relations between the two countries. The past four decades proved bogus the argument that tough economic sanctions on Cuba would be the only way to cripple Fidel Castro's hold on power.

They haven't and they won't. Only death will end Castro's power.

Meanwhile, strong Castro allies such as Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the former Soviet Union, who helped Communist Cuba to become such a threat to this country, especially by way of the 1962 missile crisis, are long gone.

Castro himself has been relegated to the status of insignificant island on the world stage, in the way his nation has evolved while being bogged down in mid-20th century thinking more than a half-decade into the 21st century.

The best hope regarding American-Cuban relations is a new American policy of engagement that would encourage reforms as Cuba moves closer to the post-Castro era.

This nation's policy toward Cuba should not be dominated by the pro-embargo die-hards more hellbent on making life difficult for Castro leadership than for helping to improve the lives of Cuba's population.

While no one expects total removal of the U.S. embargo or establishment of normal relations with Cuba at this stage, a more friendly policy toward Cuba now could speed the process toward a more normal, productive relationship in a decade or so, when both Fidel Castro and his brother might be out of the picture.

That's not in line with the current thinking of President George W. Bush. During his presidency, Bush, responding to the desires of the Cuban-exile lobby in Florida, has tightened the embargo by sharply restricting travel and requiring advance payments for food sales to Cuba.

Cuban-Americans now can visit relatives in Cuba only once every three years, and the money they are allowed to spend each day while there has been cut to $50 from $164.

During the 1990s, the Republican-controlled Congress prevented then-President Bill Clinton from moving toward closer relations with Cuba — a move by lawmakers that accomplished virtually nothing.

U.S. farmers did successfully pressure Congress to allow sales of food to the island, but this nation's move to isolate Castro is generally backfiring. Instead of American companies now entering into contracts with Cuba to drill for oil and gas along the Cuban coast, Cuba is negotiating contracts with companies from China, Europe and Canada.

Alfredo Duran, president of the Cuban Committee for Democracy, a Miami-based group of moderate Cuban-Americans generally opposed to embargo policies, had the right perspective when he observed, "If there's going to be drilling in the Florida Straits 50 miles from the (Florida) Keys, my guess is that Floridians and Americans in general would rather it be done by U.S. firms."

Likewise, bolstering other American interests by allowing them to do business in Cuba or, regarding farmers, permitting them to expand food shipments there, makes sense for the American economy as well as for the lives of the people of Cuba.

If Cuba doesn't buy from the United States, it buys from someone else.

Likewise, restrictions should be eased regarding academic exchanges.

With the Castro government still in power, it would be premature to advocate full relations with Cuba. The unresolved issues of political prisoners, permission for a free press and permission for a multi-party political process remain thorny matters.

A delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives plans to meet with Cuban officials, U.S. diplomats and dissidents on a trip to Havana this month. Both this country and Cuba will be well-served if that meeting becomes the basis for future productive dialogue.

The Cuba of the turbulent 1960s, when Fidel Castro was strengthening his hold over the Cuban people and heightening his image as an evil, menacing figure on the world stage, is no more. The opportunity for something positive to happen on the America-Cuba front is at hand, or nearly so.

This opportunity must not be botched.