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Also on the videoconference were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Rice and Gutierrez, a Cuban American who left the island with his parents at age 6, chair the White House Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba.

Rice once said the commission was created to ''accelerate the demise of Castro's tyranny.'' The Castros have dismissed it as an effort to destabilize Cuban society.

The activists said Bush congratulated them on their bravery.

''He's a president who leaves power in 10 months, but he's the head of state closest to the Cuban people,'' Soler told The Associated Press later. ''He is one of the few presidents worrying about Cuba's problems.''

It was the first time Bush has spoken directly to opposition leaders on the island, the U.S. Interests Section said. The use of U.S. property in Havana to facilitate the conversation won't please Cuba's government, which tolerates no organized opposition and dismisses dissidents as U.S.-paid mercenaries trying to topple the communist system.

In March, Bush met at the White House with a former Cuban prisoner and his wife to mark the five-year anniversary of the 2003 arrests.

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Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez contributed to this story from Havana.

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