By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Herald Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- House lawmakers on Wednesday clashed fiercely over Cuba with Cesar Gaviria, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States. Several accused him of weak leadership in promoting democracy, and two Miami Republicans urged his resignation.
Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Cuban Americans from Miami, said Gaviria's request for help from Cuban President Fidel Castro to win the release of his kidnapped brother in June had undermined his credibility as leader of the 34-nation hemispheric forum.
``His conduct as Secretary General of the OAS constitutes a dereliction of duty, his function as such is totally compromised, and he is incapable of impartially carrying forth the duties of the OAS Secretary General,'' said Diaz-Balart, who called for him to step down.
The encounter, which took place in a normally sedate Capitol chamber over a luncheon of pasta with shrimp, failed to ruffle the secretary general, even as one lawmaker, Rep. Kika de la Garza, D-Texas, beseeched his colleagues to show Gaviria more respect.
``It was pretty much of a bloody scene,'' one House aide said of the closed-door meeting.
Gaviria, a former president of Colombia, was aggressively interrogated by Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart and others as to whether Castro is a dictator, whether Cuba is a terrorist nation and how he can fulfill his OAS mission if he is beholden to Castro for his brother's life.
Yet when Gaviria emerged from the chamber into the glare of television lights, he called the meeting ``useful.''
Gaviria said he has no intention of stepping down and is not one to shy away from a controversy. ``I am very confident that I have the support of all the member states of the OAS,'' he said.
The rhetoric grew heated early in the lunch, when Gaviria explained the circumstances around his petition for Castro's help to free his brother, observers said. Juan Carlos Gaviria, an architect, was held hostage for more than two months by pro-Castro Colombian guerrillas.
He was freed after Gaviria made an appeal to Castro to intercede. The Cuban leader sent two envoys to negotiate the release and arranged for the safe passage of eight of the guerrillas to relocate in Cuba.
Gaviria, who has said he is ``personally grateful'' for Castro's help, denied that it compromised his role as secretary general of an organization that suspended Cuba three decades ago. Nor, he said, did Castro's intercession play any role in the June 4 vote by the OAS General Assembly that condemned the Helms-Burton law that tightens Washington's embargo against Cuba.
``We just kept hammering him on Cuba's involvement [in the release of] his brother,'' Ros-Lehtinen said. His was a ``pitiful performance,'' she said.
Even Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, the ranking Democrat on the committee, exhorted Gaviria to do more to press for political reforms in Cuba, aides said. No one, however, threatened to cut funding to the OAS, to which the United States is the largest contributor.
Gaviria, who told lawmakers he favors ``dialogue'' and ``gradualism,'' later reflected: ``There was no disagreement about the need to solve the problem, but rather about the means to that end.''
© 1996 The Miami Herald.