WASHINGTON -- A House subcommittee on Thursday hosted the most lopsided hearing against the U.S. embargo of Cuba in recent years -- erupting in an anti-Miami outburst and drawing cries of unfairness from Cuban-American lawmakers.

The hearing of the trade subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee appeared to boost the prospects of legislation to lift U.S. restrictions on food and medical sales to Cuba.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Esteban Torres, D-Calif., has been effectively bottled up in Congress for months by Cuban-American lawmakers and their political allies who have ignored it in the foreign affairs committees.

Torres' legislation, and a companion Senate bill offered by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., still face an uphill battle. It was not at all clear that Thursday's hearing reflected a change of heart for all of Congress, which has twice voted to tighten U.S. economic sanctions against the island since 1992.

Still, as witness after witness took the floor to criticize U.S. policy toward Cuba, there was a sense that a monopoly had been broken: that Republicans as well as Democrats could question the value of a unilateral embargo; that matters of trade and commerce could compete with political questions affecting Cuba; and that people other than Cuban Americans could deliver emotional, firsthand accounts of dealings with Cuba.

Suffering on the island

Rep. Joe Moakley, D-Mass., was one of several witnesses to testify about suffering on the island, which he said is not caused by U.S. sanctions but is certainly exacerbated by them. He told of a recent trip to Cuba when he met a young boy who had nearly died for want of a U.S.-manufactured plastic shunt to ease his heart condition.

``His young mother told me she didn't understand why they couldn't get that piece of plastic,'' Moakley said. ``She looked to me for answers, Mr. Chairman -- I had none.''

Faced with such testimony, Congress' three Cuban-American lawmakers tried to explain nuances of the embargo like the fact that licensed and monitored medical sales are permitted. But they objected to the list of 20 speakers from business, trade and humanitarian groups in which only they and one Clinton administration official defended the policy.

`Grossly outnumbered'

``This hearing does not accurately reflect the views of the majority of the U.S. Congress, nor of the overwhelming majority of the Cuban-American community,'' Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., complained to the chairman, Rep. Phil Crane, R-Ill. ``We are grossly outnumbered.''

But Crane said the Cuban-American lawmakers had ignored his requests for pro-embargo witnesses. Crane, who voted for the Helms-Burton sanctions in 1996, on Thursday questioned whether they had harmed U.S. interests abroad. He did not state a position on the Torres bill.

In one fiery exchange, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., predicted Congress will continue to support sanctions in defense of Cuban liberty.

``I wouldn't bet on it,'' retorted Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

In any event, Diaz-Balart continued, ``The Cuban people will be free because of the Cuban people.''

To which Rangel replied: ``[Because of] the Cuban people in Cuba, not Miami.''

Suddenly, the cavernous hearing room erupted in applause. Crane gaveled the room to silence and continued the hearing.