``Every conflict has a beginning and has an end, and we have come to the end,'' said Edward Seaga, a former Jamaican prime minister who severed his country's ties with Havana eight years ago.

The hourlong meeting reflected the regional reconciliation that has taken several Caribbean leaders to Havana over the past 18 months and inspired them to launch a diplomatic offensive against the hard-line U.S. stance on Cuba.

In a six-day trip ending Aug. 3, Castro is visiting Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada -- all countries that shunned him at one time or another.

The only opposition to his visit has been voiced in Grenada. Some politicians on that island say Castro's visit is an insult to the United States, which lost 18 soldiers in the 1983 invasion of Grenada. Forty-five Grenadians and 29 Cubans also died in the fighting.

Seaga said his meeting with Castro, the first between them, was ``very amiable, very frank and vintage Castro, in that we both had an opportunity to talk around the subject.''

``The subject'' referred to fears from the 1970s that Castro might export his revolution, taking over Jamaica through proxies. Military training camps for Jamaicans were set up in Cuba at the time. At home, Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley nationalized businesses as part of a Cuban-inspired program that badly harmed the economy and caused a flight of educated and skilled Jamaicans.

``Thousands upon thousands left the country,'' Seaga said. ``It caused the split of many, many families.''

In 1980, when Seaga succeeded Manley as prime minister, ``the economy was in shambles, almost bankrupt . . . and the [Cuban] ambassador was boasting about Cuban might and what Cuba would do to its enemies,'' Seaga said.

Seaga expelled the ambassador and cut ties with Havana.

``We were locked in conflict,'' he said.

But on Thursday, Seaga said, ``We made it quite clear that those days are behind us. We are not dealing with memories. We are dealing with the future.''

That future should include a Cuba fully integrated in the region's affairs and free of the U.S. embargo, Seaga said.

``We also do not believe that the embargo has any purpose,'' he said. ``[It] has certainly not demonstrated any usefulness.''

Castro did not speak to reporters after the meeting.