U.S. to ease Cuba restrictions

By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Herald Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Reacting to Pope John Paul II's call to help the forces of change in Cuba, the Clinton administration is expected to announce a series of measures today that would roll back restrictions on air travel, cash remittances and medical sales to the island and clear the way for food transfers.

The package of steps, which Secretary of State Madeleine Albright outlined to lawmakers Thursday, would allow Cuban Americans in Miami once again to board direct flights to Havana once a year on an emergency basis and send up to $300 every three months to relatives on the island through licensed brokers.

The planned changes drew swift praise from Catholic leaders and some exiles, who rallied to the Pope's appeals to bolster the Catholic Church in Cuba and take ``practical steps'' to improve living conditions of the Cuban people.

``The U.S. Catholic Conference welcomes this signal of a beginning of a change in U.S. Cuba policy,'' said Thomas Quigley, Latin America advisor for the U.S. bishops. ``It clearly matches some of what the church in Cuba and in the U.S. have been asking for.''

But the reforms were instantly denounced by Cuban-American lawmakers as a political victory for Cuban President Fidel Castro and a step toward more regular ties with the island.

``We are not going to let [President] Clinton proceed along the path of normalization. Period,'' said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami.

The administration's package would also help U.S. pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies sell their products in Cuba. Although such sales are already legal, the change would reduce the paperwork burden and help identify medicines that would not likely be used for reexport or torture and the groups that could monitor their use.

Bipartisan work

Clinton is also expected to order his aides to work with bipartisan congressional leaders on legislation to facilitate shipments of food to ordinary Cubans, whether in the form of donations or sales. Officials said the president is considering supporting a bill backed by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and the Cuban American National Foundation to make federal funds available to charity groups to send food to Cuba.

Taken together, the changes represent the most sweeping policy shift toward Cuba since 1996, when Clinton angrily agreed to tighten the U.S. embargo and punish the Castro government for shooting down two civilian planes piloted by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue.

This time, however, Clinton's shift is in the direction of reducing tensions with Cuba, and seems aimed at reviving a dormant policy of outreach to nongovernmental players on the island. The measures are to be taken by executive order and do not directly contravene the 35-year trade ban, which was codified into law by Congress in the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.

Trying to keep momentum

The steps come weeks after the president dispatched Albright and other aides to gather opinions in Miami, at the Vatican and on Capitol Hill, with eyes on continuing the momentum of the Pope's trip to Cuba in January.

State Department spokesman Jim Foley, who declined to discuss specifics of the package Thursday, said only: ``These consultations have been about finding ways in which we can assist the Cuban people without re-energizing the government. A decision is in the final stages, and we hope to be able to make an announcement in the next few days.''

But a senior administration official, speaking anonymously, said he believed the Pope's visit has stirred wide support for deepening the humanitarian aspect of U.S. policy.

``There seems to be a broad-based consensus that it was an important event, that Cubans are increasingly looking to a Cuba beyond Castro, and that we need to help them prepare the steps toward a peaceful transition,'' the official said.

U.S. officials denied feeling pressured to respond to overtures by Castro, who in recent months has granted limited freedom to church leaders, authorized the celebration of Christmas and released as many as 300 common and political prisoners.

Reciprocity urged

U.S. Catholic leaders have strongly urged Washington to reciprocate with gestures that would consolidate the Cuban church's new political space.

Boston Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law, who was in Cuba for the papal visit, last week said Castro ``has been a promoter, not an obstacle'' to expanding religious freedom.

``Change is occurring in Cuba,'' Law said in a speech at Harvard University. ``The question is, do we have the political will and moral courage to change?''

But Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, said easing sanctions that were imposed to punish Castro sends the wrong message. Clinton banned all remittances to Cuba -- except those to cover the cost of family immigration -- during the 1994 rafter exodus from Cuba, and cut off flights in 1996 after Cuban fighters killed the four Brothers to the Rescue airmen.

``It means Castro's out of the penalty box,'' said Ros-Lehtinen, who conceded that the U.S. steps would find some support among exiles. ``We're forgiving him for killing four innocent people.''