SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A2

LENGTH: 456 words

HEADLINE: BUSH SEEN FIRM ON CUBA REAFFIRMATION OF TRADE EMBARGO EXPECTED TODAY

BYLINE: By Scott Lindlaw, Associated Press

BODY:
WASHINGTON - President Bush, reportedly hardening his stance on Cuba, wants to aid prodemocracy activists and help foster capitalism there, and is turning aside pleas from Jimmy Carter and others to end a 41-year-old trade embargo.

In a morning speech on Cuban Independence Day and in an afternoon appearance in Miami, Bush is expected today to reaffirm his support for the embargo and to support steps to promote free enterprise in Cuba.

   He also is expected to express his support for a referendum in Cuba asking voters whether they favor civil liberties like freedom of speech and assembly, and amnesty for political prisoners, said Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, who was briefed on Bush's message. Politics loomed large over Bush's speech and trip: Cuban-American voters helped carry him to a narrow victory in Florida, the state that decided the 2000 election, and they favor the kind of hard line Bush is espousing.

The tough talk also could appeal to the broader Hispanic vote throughout the United States.

Bush's brother Jeb, the Florida governor, faces reelection this year and also is depending on Cuban-Americans, who vote heavily Republican.

The president is to headline a fund-raiser tonight for the Florida Republican Party, which will use it to boost Jeb Bush's campaign. It will be the third fund-raiser for his brother the president has attended this year.

In a departure from its usual practice, the White House planned to shut the news media out from the fund-raiser at the home of Armando Codina.

In the past, Bush has pledged to bolster aid to Cuban dissidents and to help overcome Cuba's jamming of US broadcasts beamed to the island, but aides said those two issues were not the focus of today's Cuba speeches.

Nor is Bush expected to change his stance on a law known as Helms-Burton that has prompted some conservatives and Cuba activists to accuse him of being soft on Havana.

Twice in his first year in office, Bush refused to lift a prohibition on Americans suing people or companies who now control property in Cuba that was confiscated from Americans.

Carter rankled the Bush administration by sharply criticizing the embargo and tourism restrictions.

"I think an American private citizen or an American company should have the right to visit any place on earth and the right to trade with any other purchaser or supplier on earth," Carter said Friday before leaving Cuba.

Last week, a group of 40 lawmakers - Republicans and Democrats - also announced support for easing the embargo, and on Friday, Human Rights Watch called for the same, saying the embargo "imposes indiscriminate hardship on the Cuban people and impedes democratic change."

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, PRESIDENT BUSH Support for free enterprise / AFP PHOTO

LOAD-DATE: May 20, 2002