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HEADLINE: Bush: No Lifting Of Cuba Policies; President Reaffirms U.S. Sanctions

BYLINE: Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: MIAMI, May 20

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Bringing an eager Cuban American audience to its feet, President Bush today called on Fidel Castro to open Cuba's political and economic systems by allowing non-Communist candidates to participate in next year's legislative elections and the development of independent trade unions.

"Mr. Castro, once -- just once -- show that you're unafraid of a real election," Bush shouted to the crowd of 5,000 packed into a downtown Miami auditorium. "Show the world you respect Cuban citizens enough to listen to their voices and to count their votes. Start to release your choke hold on the working people and on enterprise." Bush's remarks were designed to reaffirm his commitment to a tough policy on Cuba in the face of growing bipartisan support in Congress and within the U.S. business and farming communities for easing four decades of economic sanctions. But after a lengthy review by his administration, the president essentially restated policies that have persisted through several administrations.

Delivered on the 100th anniversary of Cuban independence, his remarks also served as a backdrop for his appearance at a Republican fundraiser hosted tonight by a Cuban American businessman, Armando Codina. The state GOP hopes it will raise as much as $ 2 million for the reelection campaign of Bush's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush. Codina, a South Florida real estate developer, is Jeb Bush's former business partner.

President Bush has been under conflicting pressures from those opposed to sanctions, and from Cuban Americans in Florida who believe that he owes his election to their votes and that his brother's reelection depends on them. Although they are less than 5 percent of the Florida electorate, Cuban Americans dominate politics and much of the economy in the southern part of the state.

Although they publicly praised Bush today, many Cuban American leaders expecting new crackdowns on Castro were disappointed. "My question is, what did he announce that's different than what we have now?" one asked. Another Miami Cuban American with close connections to Washington noted that the majority of Florida voters are not in favor of any policy that would increase Cuban American influence here. "Jeb would lose the election," this source said.

White House officials said that the "Initiative for a New Cuba" Bush announced -- in a policy speech at the White House this morning and essentially repeated here -- stemmed from a review that began in January. Otto Reich, the State Department's assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere -- himself a Cuban American favoring a hard line against Castro -- said that the review was "still in process" and suggested there would be further initiatives.

Another senior administration official speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One this morning described it as "a restatement of the same policy, just in a different way." Bush's call for Castro to open next year's National Assembly elections to other political groups echoed a proposal former president Jimmy Carter made in a televised speech in Havana last week. Bush said that international observers should be allowed to monitor the vote.

In a slight twist, Bush said "the United States recognizes that freedom sometimes grows step by step," and implied that movement in the right direction by Castro would bring unspecified reciprocal action by the United States.

At the same time, he described the policy as an all-or-nothing matter, saying that "full normalization of relations with Cuba -- diplomatic recognition, open trade and a robust aid program -- will only be possible when Cuba has a new government that is fully democratic."

Established by presidential order in 1962, the U.S. embargo of Cuba was codified by an act of Congress in 1996, and only Congress can significantly change it. Bipartisan majorities in both houses have voted several times in recent years to end the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba and to allow the Castro government to buy American food and medicine on credit. But the measures were killed in conference committees or dropped from bills at passage.

Several months before Bush took office, House GOP leaders were forced to accept a compromise to that year's bill easing sanctions, agreeing that Cuba could buy U.S. agricultural goods, but for cash only. Since the first purchases last November, Cuba has bought about $ 90 million in U.S. commodities, from 27 states.

Bush said today he would veto further measures on trade or lifting the ban that empowers the Treasury Department to fine U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba. "Well-intentioned ideas about trade will merely prop up this dictator," Bush said of Castro.

Congressional leaders of the anti-sanctions effort harshly criticized Bush. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) said Bush was driven by "politics, not policy," and predicted that Congress would continue to support lifting the embargo. "It hurts American farmers, but has had no noticeable effect on Fidel Castro," Dorgan said.

At a hearing before Dorgan's Commerce subcommittee this year, Treasury officials acknowledged that resources used to enforce the travel ban could be devoted to the fight against terrorism in this country. He has scheduled another hearing Tuesday to examine the ongoing food and medicine embargo.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said the administration had "responded in very petty ways" to Carter, including today's speeches "rejecting President Carter's call for revisions in U.S. policy." Dodd has invited Carter to Capitol Hill Tuesday to brief House and Senate members on his Cuba trip.

Senate intelligence committee Chairman Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who joined Bush on the stage here, issued a statement calling for the administration to provide more information backing up the assertion this month by Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton that Cuba has developed bioweapons capability and is sharing it with other "rogue states."

Much of what Bush called for today has long been presidential policy or the law of the land. Although he said he would work to reinstate direct mail service, canceled by the United States in 1962, mail reinstatement was ordered by Congress in 1992 but then rejected by Castro. Bush also said he wanted to establish university scholarships for Cuban students and the children of political prisoners, an initiative Dodd first proposed in legislation last year.

Bush said he wanted to expand a program, first authorized by Congress in 1996, to provide assistance to internal Cuban dissidents, through American religious and nongovernmental organizations. But as they have in the past, a number of the island's leading dissidents today said they felt such aid would compromise their efforts, and that democracy would come more quickly to Cuba with greater flexibility in U.S. policy.

Cuban human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez praised Bush's support for human rights, but said that "the rest of [his] speech was more of the same, the same prickly rhetoric from the time of the Cold War that has characterized the relationship between the countries for 40 years."

Supporters of a tougher U.S. policy have expressed disappointment in Bush's failure to implement campaign promises and pledges made during the Cuban Independence Day speech last May, including beefing up U.S. government radio and television broadcasting to the island. Bush repeated today that he was still looking for ways to improve Radio and TV Marti, but announced no specific initiatives.



LOAD-DATE: May 21, 2002