By Serge F. Kovaleski
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, February 23, 1999; Page A13

HAVANA, Feb. 22—President Fidel Castro has escalated his political attacks on the United States and anti-government dissidents to a level not seen here since Cuba shot down two civilian planes piloted by Miami-based anti-Castro activists three years ago.

Cuba's aging leader contends that the Clinton administration's decision last month to ease the U.S. economic embargo against this Communist country is a ploy aimed at continuing efforts to undermine his 40-year grip on power.

Reviving the ideologically charged rhetoric of the Cold War, Castro recently convened a special session of the National Assembly to consider harsh new penalties for dissidents, especially those seen as sympathetic to U.S. Cuban policies. The assembly's unanimous approval of the measures earlier this month has sparked concern among foreign diplomats and human rights workers that Castro may be ushering in an era of greater repression in this Caribbean island nation of 11 million people.

Already, some Americans visiting Cuba -- some in violation of U.S. law, some with special permission from the State Department -- say that Cubans have been reluctant to meet with them. Some independent Cuban journalists, however, have continued to risk the wrath of officials here by speaking on the U.S. government's Radio Marti, which is opposed to Castro's rule.

Several top Communist Party officials have attacked the United States for refusing to lift completely the economic sanctions it imposed on Cuba 38 years ago. The official party newspaper, Granma, has carried front-page stories decrying Washington's policies, saying in one article that the laws recently passed here are "a matter of refusing to allow the U.S. government to carry out its death sentence on the Cuban revolution."

A billboard poster that was hung recently at a busy intersection here shows several hands brandishing swords, accompanied by the words: "The Same People. The Same Cause. Renewal of the War of Independence."

Meanwhile, Cuba has said that the bulk of its telephone links with the United States will be cut at midnight Wednesday if it does not receive overdue U.S. telephone service payments. Several U.S. phone companies are withholding the payments, awaiting the outcome of a Florida court case involving efforts to seize Cuban assets in the United States by the relatives of four Cuban American pilots from an anti-Castro group who were killed when their small planes were shot down by Cuban aircraft north of Havana in 1996.

The latest anti-American backlash began Jan. 5, when President Clinton announced that he would further relax restrictions on U.S. trade and commerce in Cuba under a policy that aims to encourage activities by Cuban charities affiliated with nongovernmental organizations while circumventing the Cuban government.

The measures would include increasing the number of direct charter flights to the island, resumption of direct mail service, authorization for any U.S. citizen to send up to $1,200 a year to recipients in Cuba -- a right now reserved for relatives -- and permission for U.S. firms to sell food, fertilizer and agricultural equipment to independent farmers and privately owned restaurants.

Although many Cubans have welcomed Clinton's gesture, Castro was infuriated, calling it a "fraud" that does nothing to ease the sanctions while enhancing U.S. ability to exert influence within Cuba. "They have sought to deceive the world, saying they relaxed the blockade. Incredible! . . . What they have done is strengthen the blockade," Castro said in a speech earlier this month.

Last month, the state-run newspaper Trabajadores said that the embargo cost the island $800 million in 1998 and more than $60 billion since Castro's takeover in 1959 as a consequence of extra shipping costs, tougher credit conditions, higher import prices and lower export revenues, among other things.

Cuban officials characterized the easing of the blockade as a public relations stunt intended to soothe opposition to the sanctions within the international community and U.S. foreign policy circles. They also said they were dismayed that in approving the new steps, Clinton had rejected a proposal from two dozen senators of both parties to establish a commission to review all aspects of U.S. policy toward Cuba, including the embargo.

The Cuban government has not suggested it will reject the steps proposed by Clinton, but has said it will study the particulars before making any decisions. Cuban officials said, however, that they are wary of allowing more Americans to send money to Cuba because it could enable anti-Castro Cuban Americans in Miami to increase their support of efforts to undermine the regime.

U.S. officials defended the latest easing, the second such move by the Clinton administration in less than a year, as a humanitarian decision designed to help the people of this impoverished nation, which daily faces food and other shortages. "Most people would consider the measures a nice gesture, not something awful," a senior State Department official said. "It is super retro to think that the United States is trying to create independent spheres in Cuba to overthrow the government. We are trying to build a civil society to pave the way for an orderly transition" in a post-Castro Cuba.

The official said that the Clinton administration decided against the special bipartisan commission because it would have been a very time-consuming endeavor, adding that adopting the current steps was viewed as more productive.

Observers noted that not since Congress tightened the embargo in 1996 in response to the downing of the two planes has the Castro government voiced such contempt for the United States and undertaken such drastic political action. "I think the Cuban government has reacted so forcefully because it does not want to normalize relations with the United States," said Oscar Espinosa, a member of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. "For the government, the embargo is the grand excuse for everything that is wrong with Cuba."

The crackdown on U.S.-inspired political opposition -- as sanctioned by the new Law for the Protection of Cuba's National Independence and Economy -- comes amid a general toughening of laws aimed at curbing a recent rise in crime. The law includes provisions targeting the possession or dissemination of "subversive" literature produced by the U.S. government, as well as relations with radio or TV stations or written publications that seek to assist U.S. attempts to damage or undermine Cuba's economy or society.

Labeling the law "a new instrument of repression," five independent Cuban journalists' groups over the weekend put a letter on the Internet in which they called "for the backing of all democratic institutions who support freedom of expression so we can continue to exercise the right to inform and receive information."

In the meantime, Josefina Veldes, 60, a retiree here, said that while she wants the embargo lifted, she also welcomes the latest easing of sanctions, no matter how limited it may be. "After living with this for almost 40 years, it is better than nothing," she said. "I just hope that one day, the United States realizes that we are all humans."

U.S. vs. Cuba

Cuban President Fidel Castro, in power for four decades, has outlasted nine U.S. presidents. Here are some key events in U.S. relations with Cuba since the 1959 revolution:1959: Fidel Castro's guerrillas take power from the government of Fulgencio Batista. Exodus of Cubans to Miami begins.

1960: Castro establishes diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union, then with China and expropriates American-owned interests.

1961: U.S. responds by severing diplomatic relations, imposing trade embargo and supporting an ill-fated invasion by anti-Castro Cuban exiles, known as the Bay of Pigs invasion.

1962: World on brink of nuclear war when U.S. discovers that Soviets have installed medium-range missiles in Cuba, but Soviets back down.

1975: Cuban troops sent to fight on side of Marxist government in Angola.

1980: 120,000 Cubans, including many hard-core criminals, depart Cuba for the U.S. in what becomes known as the "Mariel boat lift." Many end up in U.S. internment camps.

1991: Soviet Union collapses, Soviet personnel leave Cuba, and subsidies end, plunging the island into economic crisis.

1992: President Bush signs the Cuban Democracy Act, known as the "Torricelli law," which tightens up U.S. embargo by making it illegal for overseas subsidiaries of American firms to trade with Cuba.

1993: U.S. dollar becomes legal again in Cuba.

1994: Castro says he no longer will stop Cubans from leaving; 13,000 do so. Accord negotiated same year on safe and orderly departure.

1995: Cuba approves direct foreign investment.

1996: On Feb. 24, Cuban planes shoot down two small aircraft flown by Miami-based exile group over international waters.

On March 12, President Clinton signs into law the Helms-Burton Act, which mandates sanctions against foreign companies doing business in Cuba.

1998: In January, Pope John Paul II visits, calls for more religious and personal freedoms and criticizes U.S. sanctions.

May: Clinton lifts portions of economic sanctions, including humanitarian aid. Relatives allowed to remit American dollars to Cubans.

July: Limited direct flights from Miami to Havana resume.

SOURCES: Political Handbook, news services