By GEORGE GEDDA
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Cuba escaped U.N. condemnation for its human rights performance earlier this week after Russia and eight other countries reneged on assurances of support for a U.S.-backed resolution critical of Fidel Castro's regime, according to American officials.
The vote Tuesday marked the first time since 1991 that Cuba was spared condemnation by the U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva. The vote was 19-16 with 18 abstentions.
As late as Monday night, the American delegation in Geneva believed the resolution would carry by a vote of about 18-12 . The delegation was flabbergasted the next day when the commission failed to condemn the Castro government.
In the official response to the vote, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin expressed deep disappointment. He accused some members of the Human Rights Commission of "turning their backs on the suffering of the Cuban people.''
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., speaking to a joint session of the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee on Wednesday, blamed the Clinton administration for the U.N. failure to censure Cuba.
"In a startling defeat for U.S. policy on Cuba, the president of the United States just went to a summit in Chile. Only two Latin American countries voted with us in the U.N.,'' Gingrich noted. "The Clinton administration, whether by design or incompetence, has consistently allowed the pressure of Fidel to continue.''
Gingrich also surprised some lawmakers by saying he wanted the U.S. embargo lifted against Cuba, but then brought a standing ovation by adding that all it required was free elections in Cuba.
Countries that reversed themselves after indicating support for the U.N. resolution were Russia, Chile, Uruguay, Pakistan, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Guinea, according to State Department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Santiago, Chilean Foreign Minister Jose Miguel Insulza defended the vote, saying his government "has not changed its stance on Cuba.''
"The text submitted by the United States did not exactly reflect our position on the subject of Cuba and on the way this situation should be faced in the future,'' Insulza said Wednesday night. "In Cuba, it is necessary to open a dialogue, a debate, and the proposed resolution just slammed the door on what has already been done.''
Efforts to reach officials in other countries were not immediately successful.
The U.S. officials, asking not to be identified, said the Clinton administration was making plain to these countries its unhappiness over their votes. They said the administration was considering how to respond to the situation but had made no decision.
The vote was particularly unsettling to U.S. officials because several African countries voted with Cuba in the wake of President Clinton's recent extended visit to the continent. Clinton also had made his state visit to Chile just days before Tuesday's U.N. vote.
Loss of a plurality of support for the resolution reflected a changed international attitude toward Cuba following the January visit to the island of Pope John Paul II. Cuba also recently released a large number of prisoners, including 99 detained for political crimes.
According to the officials, the Clinton administration had redoubled its effort to ensure the resolution's success this year, mindful of the impact of the pope's visit. The lobbying efforts featured phone calls by Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the officials said.
Cuba has been increasingly successful in overcoming American efforts to isolate the island internationally. The U.N. General Assembly, by large margins each year, has approved resolutions criticizing the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
The administration has made clear its unhappiness to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien over his decision to visit Cuba next Monday.
Latin American countries also were expected to make a major effort later this spring to reinstate the Cuban government in the Organization of American States. The United States served notice on these nations at the Summit of the Americas last weekend in Chile that it would vigorously oppose any such measure.
Although the Cuban state technically remains an OAS member, the Cuban government was expelled in the early 1960s because its Marxist-Leninist system was considered incompatible with OAS principles.
AP-NY-04-23-98 0307EDT