HAVANA · As Fidel Castro lies gravely ill, the largest U.S. congressional delegation to visit communist-led Cuba arrived Friday for three days of talks with government leaders, foreign diplomats and others, in what some hope could be a first step toward normalizing relations with the island nation.

Leading the 10-member, bipartisan delegation are Reps. William Delahunt, D-Mass., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who have criticized the four-decade economic embargo against Cuba.

“We sense this is an important time, and we hope to be able to meet with officials here and others and hopefully launch a new era in U.S.-Cuba relations,” Flake said Friday afternoon, as the group arrived at the elegant Hotel Nacional.

The trip comes less than a month before Democrats take control of Congress, and as an ailing Fidel Castro seems unlikely to return to power. Cubans on the island and in Florida are calling for an end to the Bush administration measures that have restricted visits and the amount of money that can be sent to family members in Cuba.

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