US may harden line on Havana

<a href=news.ft.com>Financial Times By Henry Hamman in Miami Published: April 8 2003 22:34 | Last Updated: April 8 2003 22:34

The US administration may further tighten its policy towards Cuba in response to a crackdown on dissidents, according to Washington's top diplomat in Havana.

James Cason, principal officer at the US interests section in Havana, told the Financial Times that a high-level Washington policy review would take place this month, as soon as senior policymakers found time to turn their attention from the war in Iraq.

Last week, Fidel Castro's government started a series of closed-door trials of 78 dissidents, many of them associated with the Varela Project, a grassroots petition drive seeking more democracy in Cuba.

On Monday, 36 of them were convicted of "working with a foreign power to undermine the government" and given prison sentences ranging from 12 to 27 years.

Among those imprisoned were Hector Palacios, a campaigner for democratic reform, Paul Rivero, a dissident journalist, and Marta Beatriz Roque, an economist and political activist, who were handed sentences of 20 years or more.

Since his arrival in Havana last September, Mr Cason has adopted a more confrontational approach to US-Cuban relations, allowing independent journalists to use a diplomatic residence for a training session and making public appearances with dissidents.

Mr Cason became the US's point man in its fractious relationship with Mr Castro following a policy position in the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

A Latin American specialist, he served in embassies in Uruguay, Honduras and Venezuela, and was political adviser to the commanders of the US Atlantic Command and the Nato Atlantic commander.

Although Mr Castro has singled out Mr Cason for criticism, Mr Cason said he did not believe his activities had triggered the crackdown. "Castro had this planned anyway," he said, because the dissidents "were getting too uppity".

Mr Cason said that among those who testified against the dissidents were undercover state security agents who had infiltrated the movement over several years.

Mr Cason rejected suggestions that Washington might bear some moral responsibility for encouraging the dissidents. "I don't think we crossed any line. I think many of [the arrested dissidents] thought this was inevitable."

He also discounted the idea that the crackdown was an example of "collateral damage" from world focus on the war in Iraq.

He noted that despite diplomatic tension between the US and Europe over the war, European governments had also been angered by Mr Castro's actions, though concerns about Cuban debt repayment and commercial ties might make some European governments less vocal than the US.

He said Canada, Germany, Sweden, Britain, the Czech Republic and Spain had sought unsuccessfully to send observers to the dissidents' trials.

European governments were particularly angered by arrests of activists supporting the Varela Project, which had drawn wide support in Europe.

"They are very, very upset about this and feel that they were slapped across the face."

A series of hijackings in recent weeks has also increased US-Cuba tensions, with Mr Castro complaining that the US is too easy on hijackers and Washington complaining that Cuba has failed to take airport security seriously.

Mr Cason last week went to Havana's José Mart International Airport in a vain attempt to dissuade one hijacker who was holding up a Cuban domestic commuter aircraft.

Later, he made a rare appearance on Cuban television to warn that hijackers would face long US prison terms.

For the US, the fear of a wave of uncontrolled Cuban migration to south Florida is a serious security threat, and US officials say bilateral compliance with the migration accord with Cuba - an agreement that establishes a procedure for legal immigration to the US - is a key policy objective.

Mr Cason's strong words on Cuba represent firmly held views in the Bush administration but White House political advisers also see domestic political benefits from a hard line against Mr Castro.

Political analysts say Republican strategists have their eyes on Florida's votes in next year's presidential race.

Florida's votes put Mr Bush in office in 2000 by the narrowest of margins.

A stern stance on Cuba has proved popular among Florida's Cuban-American voters.