By Andrew Cawthorne
HAVANA, April 29 (Reuters) - The grin on Fidel Castro's face as he stood on the runway to watch Canadian leader Jean Chretien fly out of Havana airport said it all.
In the last two months the Cuban leader has enjoyed the rare pleasure of hosting two major Western leaders on Cuban soil -- first Pope John Paul II, in a ground-breaking January visit, then Chretien, who left Havana on Tuesday after a two-day trip.
Just in the last week Castro has seen the first defeat in years of a U.S.-sponsored motion at the United Nations to condemn his human rights record, and heard calls throughout Latin America for Cuba's re-integration into regional bodies.
And in the last couple of days, he skillfully took full political advantage of Chretien's visit while giving little sign of responding to his plea for reforms.
On the immediate horizon were Wednesday's swearing-in of Spain's new ambassador to Cuba -- to end an 18-month diplomatic spat between Madrid and Havana -- and more high-profile visits in 1998 by Western government officials. In the distance is a possible place at the next Summit of the Americas which Cuba's friend, Canada, is going to host.
"Happily for us the world is fulfilling the pope's call to open up to Cuba," Deborah Ojeda, a high-ranking official at Cuba's foreign ministry, told Reuters.
Havana's delight at the increasingly friendly international mood toward Cuba is enhanced by the way it makes Washington's policy of isolation -- with the 36-year embargo as its centerpiece -- look increasingly out of step.
But analysts and diplomats are quick to point out that the flurry of diplomacy has produced no major concrete changes to Castro's one-party socialist system -- the objective, after all, of the capitalist world toward Cuba.
And despite opposition from many nations to Washington's embargo, the jury is still out on which policy -- sanctions or the "constructive engagement" espoused by Canada, the European Union and others -- will bring reforms.
"Since the pope's trip there has been a response from many democratic countries -- Spain, Canada and others -- to approach Cuba more openly," said Uva de Aragon, acting director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University in Miami.
"However, the pope's request was two-fold. It also asked for Cuba to open to the world, and we have not seen many steps from Cuba in that regard as yet... I think the ultimate goal is to bring a peaceful transition to democracy and I would think that constructive engagement would be the best way to go. However, nothing has worked yet."
Speaking at Havana airport just seconds after Chretien flew out on Tuesday afternoon, a buoyant-looking Castro was clear in rebuffing the premier's call for reforms.
"We are not going to change. We are going to continue defending our cause and our socialism," he said. "The revolution is the biggest change there's been in history and we're not going to renounce that."
The Cuban leader also said he had "not made any commitment" relating to Chretien's call for the release of four leading dissidents who -- say Ottawa and other countries -- symbolize the plight of another 350 political prisoners here.
Castro's comments were no surprise to Washington, which has said all along that "constructive engagement" is getting nowhere. And Chretien's delegation was eager to play down expectations of big imminent changes, saying their policy was a gradual, long-term one.
"You could look at it as a good cop, bad cop game -- the embargo versus constructive engagement -- but the problem is that neither policy is getting results," a Western diplomat in Havana told Reuters.
The question now remains -- to what extent will the world continue to court Castro without tangible results?
Since the pope's visit, Castro has conceded some prisoner releases and more freedom for the Roman Catholic Church. But the tone of his speeches remains militant, and he hardly looks to be preparing for a U-turn on communism or to cede power.
"Right now Castro's on the crest of a diplomatic wave which is making him look less isolated," a Latin American diplomat in Havana said.
"But he should be careful, because there may be a backlash from the world, or at least a retraction of all this rapprochement, if he doesn't give more in return."
21:47 04-29-98