Bush sidelines his Cuban hardman

www.guardian.co.uk Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Friday January 10, 2003 The Guardian

The Bush administration yesterday announced a new job - in effect a demotion - for Otto Reich, the controversial Cuban-American who has been responsible for policy in Latin America for the past year.

The decision is a climbdown which acknowledges that the Senate, even with its new Republican majority, will not confirm Mr Reich as assistant secretary of state for the western hemisphere.

Mr Reich, a hardline anti-communist, has been accused of supporting terrorists in Central America and appearing to welcome a military coup in Venezuela.

The White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced that Mr Reich would be joining the National Security Office in a minor role. It was described by Latin American analysts as a consolation prize.

Mr Fleischer said Mr Reich would be reporting to the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, in his new post.

"Ambassador Reich has a distinguished record of service to the United States both outside and in government," he said.

The new chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, the moderate Republican Richard Lugar, had already made it clear that he would not vote to confirm Mr Reich.

The administration had considered submitting his name again but has decided to avoid an embarrassing rebuff by the committee.

Mr Reich was able to occupy the post last year because President Bush used a formula called a recess appointment, which let him take office without Senate confirmation.

In November he was temporarily named as the state department's special envoy to Latin America, reporting to the secretary of state, Colin Powell, but Mr Powell was said to be uncomfortable about the presence of such a controversial figure.

Now he has been moved again to a lesser post.

"This is a consolation prize, a face-saver," said Larry Birns, the director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs which monitors Latin American politics.

He said that Mr Reich had originally been appointed to placate "the Miami Cubans", who are a significant body of support for the governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, the president's brother.

He added that Mr Powell had become increasingly aware of the negative effect Mr Reich's position had on Latin American relations, particularly since the election of the leftwingers Ignacio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Lucio Gutierrez in Ecuador.

Last April Mr Reich came under scrutiny for apparently welcoming the military coup which led to the brief removal from office of President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

More recently he angered the Venezuelan government by saying: "An election is not sufficient to call a country a democracy."

The Venezuelan vice-president, Jose Vicente Rangels, called him "a clown".

Mr Reich, 57, rose to promi nence in the 80s when he was a public diplomacy adviser at the state department.

He used his office to promote the cause of the contras, who were then trying to overthrow the leftwing Sandinista government in Nicaragua. An investigation by the comptroller general found that Mr Reich's office had engaged in "prohibited, covert propaganda" on the contras' behalf.

He has been accused by his critics of supporting terrorism by his assistance to the contras. He was also accused of assisting the convicted Cuban terrorist Orlando Bosch to gain the right to live in the US, an accusation he has denied.

The assistant secretary of state appointment will probably be taken by the Panamanian-American Roger Francisco Noriega, who has been the US representative to the Organisation of American States, and is considered less confrontational.

Mr Birns predicted that Mr Reich would shortly return to the business world, where he used to be a lobbyist for Lockheed Martin and Bacardi rum.