HAVANA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - 

Cuban dissidents, seeking to regain the initiative after a wave of arrests last year, announced plans on Tuesday to hold a national meeting of opponents of President Fidel Castro's communist government in May.

But several dissidents among a group of seven released on parole last week plan to leave for the United States because they fear they could be rearrested, a human rights activist said.

Economist Martha Beatriz Roque, who was freed in July after 16 months in jail, said the umbrella organization she leads, called the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, will meet on May 20, 2005.

The coalition of 343 groups includes small political groupings, human rights activists and independent libraries. It was unlikely the Cuban government would authorize the meeting.

"This is a demonstration that the dissident movement is not fragmented, because it is not easy to bring so many people together," Roque said at a news conference at her home.

"There is enormous interest in attending," she said.

Cuba's nascent dissident movement was dealt a severe blow in March last year when Castro ordered the arrest of 75 leading dissidents, including Roque, the only woman among them. They were sentenced in one-day trials to prison terms of up to 28 years for conspiring with the United States against Cuba.

Since April, 14 of the group of 75 have been freed on medical grounds as the government seeks to improve its international image and repair diplomatic relations with the European Union, which has pressed Havana to release all the dissidents.

Roque expects no significant improvement in the human rights situation in Cuba.

"The government is just looking for support and wants to clean its image because it is internationally isolated," she said.

Cuban dissidents remain vulnerable to infiltration by state security agents, who had penetrated nine of the groups in Roque's coalition, she said.

The other main opposition effort, headed by Oswaldo Paya, is not part of her umbrella organization. Paya is the leader of the Varela Project, a petition for a referendum on civil rights.

Several of the dissidents released last week plan to leave Cuba for the United States, fearing they will be jailed again if they resume opposition activities. Some said the dissident movement was shattered and they were giving up.

"Most want to leave Cuba because they have the sword of Damocles over their heads: their parole will be reviewed in a year and they think they could be sent back to jail," said veteran human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez.

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