EXCLUSIVE . . . ALARCON SEES U.S.-CUBA RELATIONSHIP

In an interview with TIME editors today, the chief Cuban negotiator in Friday's agreement over the refugee crisis, Ricardo Alarcon, said the first U.S.-Cuban accord during Fidel Castro's three decades in power provides a toehold on more extensive relations. He said the next step-- if Cuba lives up to its promise to halt the 3,000-a-day refugee flow in return for 20,000 U.S. visas a year--would be talks on lifting the longtime U.S. embargo. U.S. officials downplay the possibility of lifting the three-decade-old embargo. "There is a paradox," the former Cuban Foreign Minister and longtime Castro aide said in New York City. "The embargo remains, the lack of contacts remains, but the agreement means that we have normal relations in one area." Alarcon said he's confident this progress will result in normalized relations in other areas too. But any improvement, of course, depends on how well Cuba holds up the most crucial part of the bargain: halting the waves of immigrants. Alarcon said Cu