WASHINGTON -- The Cuban exile lobby, led by the Cuban American National Foundation, is arguably the most cost-effective in Washington, dominating the U.S. policy debate on Cuba, winning legislation and securing hundreds of millions in funding for federal projects with relatively minor contributions, a new study reports.
Since 1979, leaders of the Cuban American National Foundation, their families and their political action committee have contributed $3.2 million to U.S. political candidates, according to a comprehensive review by the Center for Public Integrity.
In that same period, the foundation -- which was formally established in 1981 -- oversaw the creation of Radio and TV Marti, at a cost to taxpayers of $280 million. It also proved pivotal in the approval of the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act, which cut off U.S. subsidiary trade with Cuba, and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which stripped the president of the authority to lift the economic embargo.
``By any standard, that is a remarkable foreign policy hat-trick,'' said Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit government watchdog group that spent a year analyzing Cuban American influence in the American political system.
In comparison, the much larger pro-Israel lobby -- whose strategy the CANF largely emulated -- pours millions of dollars into campaign coffers. And the Clinton administration is still trying to emerge from a scandal involving more than a million dollars allegedly contributed to influence U.S. policy in Asia.
In recent years, Lewis noted, foundation Chairman Jorge Mas Canosa and his colleagues have established themselves as regular hosts to presidential candidates from both parties and frequent consultants to U.S. policymakers when it comes to changes in policy toward Cuba.
Without charging illegality, Lewis' report referred to the conservative lobby's ``potent, sometimes fearsome'' role in shaping U.S.-Cuba policy. He criticized Mas Canosa's access to power-brokers as ``inordinate,'' saying ``most foundation heads don't meet with presidents and secretaries of state in every administration.''
Study denounced
Supporters of the CANF as well as Miami's two Cuban American representatives, Republicans Ileana Ros Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, immediately denounced the study as the product of the liberal foundation that contributed $25,000 toward its funding. The Arca Foundation, which opposes the U.S. embargo against Cuba and has spent $1 million over the last decade to promote dialogue between the countries, provided part of the study's overall budget. Most of the funding came from other sources, including the Ford Foundation and the Christopher Reynolds Foundation.
``Clearly, Arca has bought and paid for what amounts to nothing more than a contract political hit on the Cuban American community and their participation in the American political process,'' CANF President Francisco J. Hernandez said. ``Quite obviously, the purpose is to attempt to discredit the community in order to undermine U.S. policy towards Cuba.''
``Far from being a serious study on U.S.- Cuba policy, this report has a clear political agenda as it was financed by those who seek the elimination of the U.S. embargo on [Cuban President Fidel] Castro,'' said Ros-Lehtinen, the Miami Republican.
Although the 99-page study concluded that U.S. policy toward Cuba today is a ``tangled, ineffectual mess,'' Lewis' group defended its independence and documented Arca's largely failed efforts to create an anti-embargo constituency.
The Center for Public Integrity provided The Herald with data that give the first comprehensive look at how CANF leaders and their Free Cuba PAC spread contributions among lawmakers over more than 15 years. The list of top 25 recipients is led by Ros-Lehtinen, the first Cuban American member of Congress.
Yet despite the CANF's early alliance with Reagan administration officials and its own predominately Republican leadership, 14 of the 25 are Democrats. And despite the CANF's obvious identification with Florida, most of its donations went to out-of-state lawmakers.
Generous contributions
The second top recipient of funds from CANF leaders is Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who authored the embargo-tightening Cuban Democracy Act in 1992. Lewis' study credits Mas Canosa with using generous contributions to ``convert'' Torricelli from being a liberal advocate for lifting parts of the embargo in 1989 to become a hawkish Castro antagonist within a couple of years.
Lewis declared Thursday that he had ``not seen a flip-flop like that'' in his six years as executive director of the center.
Torricelli, who was elected to the Senate last year, on Thursday accused Lewis' staff of ``incomplete reporting.'' He acknowledged his continuing support for lifting the ban on the sale of medicines to Cuba but said he has always supported the embargo.
The senator questioned the study's focus on Cuban Americans. ``What I find repugnant -- and possibly racist -- is searching through campaign records for Cuban American names and making assumptions about their influence,'' he said. ``I don't have anybody going through my records looking for Italian, Irish or Jewish names.''
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald