WASHINGTON -- Five days after the Clinton administration announced a series of moves to reach out to the Cuban people, the action continues to mobilize exile activists, alternately drawing praise, skepticism and criticism.

While many Cuban Americans have largely taken the change in stride, the policy switch has caused consternation among politicians and exile leaders. It has exacerbated tensions between Cuban-American lawmakers and the largest exile lobby, the Cuban American National Foundation, and produced angry exchanges between the administration and some of its key Democratic advisers on Cuba.

Florida lawmakers said this week that the reaction of Miami exiles to the policy shift has been relatively muted. Chief among the changes was President Clinton's order to renew direct flights between Miami and Havana, which were cut off in 1996, and to once again allow the direct transfer of cash to relatives in Cuba, a practice banned since 1994.

Aides to Sen. Bob Graham said Wednesday his office had mostly heard from callers who were in favor of the moves. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said those calling her tended to lean the other way, but were not strenuously opposed.

``Nobody's saying this is going to further cement Castro in power,'' she said. ``This is just where we were two years ago.''

Nevertheless, virtually everyone who follows Cuba policy senses that the new course could herald a broader change in the U.S. posture -- and possibly a first step toward greatly improved relations with Havana. That prospect, which the administration denies, has stirred a beehive.

Several dozen members of the exile group Unidad Cubana flew here Wednesday to honor Congress' three Cuban-American lawmakers for staunchly rejecting all efforts to weaken the U.S. embargo.

Although the legislators were powerless to stop the administration's changes, leaders of Unidad Cubana praised Reps. Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart -- both Miami Republicans -- and New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez for providing a bulwark against any warming trend toward Cuba.

``If we drop our guard, they're going to eat us alive,'' said Juan Ruiz, president of the umbrella exile organization, which counts 70 anti-Castro groups among its members.

In a statement, Unidad Cubana asserted that the overthrow of the Fidel Castro government is ``the only solution'' to the Cuban crisis, and that no change in U.S. policy is warranted, because nothing on the island has changed substantively. Wednesday's display of support for the lawmakers was necessary, the statement said, ``in view of the confusion that some of the exile organizations have created by changing this stand.''

The Cuban American National Foundation surprised many of its adherents in January by drafting a proposal that would have sent federal food aid to Cuba for the first time since the 1959 revolution. The proposal, which was drawn up with aides to Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., angered the Cuban-American lawmakers who feared it would invite attacks on the embargo in the aftermath of Pope John Paul II's visit to the island.

But while the foundation wrangled with its erstwhile allies, the administration co-opted the proposal, which was precisely the sort of humanitarian gesture that U.S. officials had hoped would demonstrate their solidarity with the Cuban people. With the pope decrying the embargo and the staunchly anti-Castro foundation acknowledging need on the island, the administration felt it had the political cover to welcome such a step.

As a result, Clinton's package included a request for Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to work with members of Congress toward drafting legislation that would ease the transfer of food to the island.

Helms' staffers blasted the announcement as an end-run. They said it could ultimately hurt the prospects for food transfers because Clinton's identification with the proposal would sap its credibility among Republicans.

The foundation was uncharacteristically quiet in Washington, although it voiced some displeasure through its Spanish-language radio station in Miami.

The foundation saw the administration's move as a problem, sources said. Foundation President Pepe Hernandez and other officers called on several lawmakers this week, saying they hoped to craft an entirely new proposal for legislation on Cuba.

``They see themselves being marginalized from the debate,'' said one source who met with Hernandez and others this week. ``They're desperate to do something so they can say they're back at it.''

Jose Cardenas, the foundation's Washington representative, declined to comment this week.

Finally, three Democrats who have long helped guide U.S. policy toward Cuba have privately voiced dismay at the administration, aides said. Sens. Graham and Bob Torricelli, D-New Jersey, and Rep. Menendez, have complained to U.S. officials that they were not adequately consulted on the policy shift, which they said threatens to unravel a predominantly bipartisan policy.