Socialists from around the world condemned Cuba on Wednesday for violating human rights and called on the island?s communist leader Fidel Castro to release political prisoners and stage democratic reforms.

Gathered in Brazil for the Congress of the Socialist International, a club of more than 140 leftist parties, the meeting also sent a clear message to the United States: end a Cold-war era economic embargo on Cuba.

?We have major concern with human rights, democracy and dialogue within Cuban society,? said Antonio Guterres, International Socialist president and a former prime minister of Portugal. ?The Cuban people need to find a common way that leads to a democratic solution.?

The socialists added their voice to condemnation from left-wing leaders of Castro?s imprisonment of dozens of political opponents and journalists earlier this year for terms of up to 28 years.

Many of those arrested in one of Castro?s harshest crackdowns in decades were charged with working for the United States to subvert his government. The prisoners deny the charges, and many describe themselves as human rights and democracy activists.

As well as criticizing Castro, the final declaration of the Sao Paulo socialist meeting said the US trade and travel embargo on Cuba was ?a huge mistake for democratic interests.?

US lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to lift a travel ban on Cuba by eliminating any funding to enforce it. President George W. Bush has threatened to veto any bill easing the four-decade-old US embargo.