Food-for-Cuba plan criticized

By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Herald Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Miami's two Cuban-American lawmakers on Wednesday slammed a proposal to send federal food aid to Cuba in a rare public dispute with the most influential exile lobby, the Cuban American National Foundation.

``Legislation concerning the issue of humanitarian aid to Cuba is unnecessary and could create serious confusion regarding existing law,'' Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Republicans, said in a statement.

The third Cuban American in Congress, Robert Menendez, D-N.J., also criticized the idea, which has not yet been formally presented by the foundation or by the Senate staffers who are drafting it.

The lawmakers' stance underscored conflicting impulses among many Cuban Americans in the wake of Pope John Paul II's trip to Cuba. The pope had asserted that the 36-year U.S. trade ban was hurting the Cuban people and branded it ``ethically unacceptable.''

The foundation-backed proposal, which is being drafted by aides to Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., calls for sending U.S. food aid, to be distributed by the American Red Cross to needy Cubans, including political prisoners and their families.

Keep momentum going

Jose Cardenas, the foundation's Washington representative, said the goal is to advance the pope's message of reconciliation and personal power with concrete support from exiles.

``The challenge of U.S. policy following the pope's visit is trying to keep that momentum going without re-energizing the regime,'' Cardenas said.

The proposal, supporters said, would rob President Fidel Castro of the ability to blame Washington for Cubans' misery, while perhaps never resulting in the delivery of U.S. aid. Cuban authorities have never allowed the American Red Cross to operate on the island, and would be unlikely to welcome American ships, which by U.S. law must transport such cargo.

``It puts the burden of accepting or rejecting such needed humanitarian aid squarely on the Cuban regime,'' said a draft of the proposal obtained by The Herald.

Sens. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., expressed interest in the proposal and the Clinton administration called it an ``initiative that merits consideration.''

Change of heart

But to others, the plan serves as a tacit admission that Cubans are experiencing a humanitarian crisis for which U.S. economic pressure is partly responsible.

``This is an unprecedented acknowledgement by some members of Congress that the embargo against Cuba has had a detrimental effect on the Cuban people,'' said Lillian Pubillones, Cuba specialist at the Inter-American Dialogue, a hemispheric forum. ``I would hope this is the beginning of a change of heart in opening up the embargo.''

Precisely to avoid such talk, the three Cuban-American lawmakers, who support strong sanctions, refused to sign on to the Helms plan. Through existing channels, they noted, Americans have sent more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid to Cuba since 1992.

``The only embargo that must be lifted is the one which Castro places on the long-suffering Cuban people,'' the Miami legislators said.

Act of defiance

The lawmakers' opposition reflected an unusual act of defiance of the foundation, which is seeking to reassert its profile in Washington after the death in November of its powerful chairman, Jorge Mas Canosa. With its generous campaign contributions in the past decade, the foundation boosted the careers of Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart and other adherents of a hard line against Havana and became an influential, almost decisive, voice on U.S. policy toward Cuba.

Sources close to the foundation said its leaders have been worried by a bill now before Congress that would lift the ban outright on sales of food and medicine. Faced with growing support for the so-called Torres-Dodd legislation -- which has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and prominent religious and business leaders -- the foundation scrambled for a counterweight, the sources said.

Foundation President Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernandez first presented the aid idea to Diaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen last week. He asked them to endorse it promptly in a news conference, congressional sources said.

Patriotic obligations

The lawmakers refused, saying it would be perceived as a softening of U.S. policy and an invitation to attack the embargo. Hernandez then remarked that they ``would never do this when Jorge Mas Canosa was alive,'' and spoke about their patriotic obligations, the sources said. They said Ros-Lehtinen, visibly angry, left the room.

The lawmakers later complained that Hernandez had taken their support for granted and failed to invite them to participate in the process, the sources said. Foundation director Domingo Moreira attempted to smooth things over with phone calls to the lawmakers Tuesday night.

The incident is not the first time that the foundation has drawn fire from exile hard-liners on the subject of humanitarian aid. In 1996, foundation leaders stared down critics and supported a massive relief effort to Cubans who lost homes and crops to Hurricane Lili.

Foundation leaders plan to hold a press conference to unveil the proposal today. Cardenas, the spokesman, predicted the dispute with the Cuban-American lawmakers will soon subside.

``As far as we're concerned, we don't see a conflict whatsoever with them,'' he said. ``Anything that's transpiring so far is standard procedure as far as developing proposals.''