U.S. to bolster Cuba broadcasts, aid to dissidents (to speed "transformation")

Washington · Otto Reich, President Bush's chief adviser on Latin America, said on Thursday that the administration will step up efforts to pressure the Fidel Castro regime, aid dissidents and hasten the political transformation of the island.

"I know that President Bush is interested in doing more to accelerate the process of change in Cuba, and it's safe to say that in the next few weeks and months you will see some additional steps," Reich said.

"It's been very difficult for this president to implement this policy for Cuba and the Western Hemisphere because up to this week he was denied the existence of his complete Latin American team. You are going to see an acceleration now that we finally have a team in place."

Reich's main mission this week was to reassure community leaders that the Bush administration will toughen its policies rather than merely carry out those of former President Bill Clinton.

"There was no negotiation," Reich insisted, "and eight of the 12 already have been released. Communications went back and forth. They were initiated by the Cuban government, which called the State Department and volunteered the fact that these people were not going to be executed. That was important and welcome news, and the United States simply asked that they put that in writing. We would not have returned them if they faced execution.

US official (Otto Reich) says Castro may have ordered boat hijacking***MIAMI (AFP) - A senior White House official claimed Friday Cuban President Fidel Castro may have ordered a recent boat hijacking in a successful bid to sow discord between the Cuban-American community and the US administration.

"Look at the impact on the Cuban (American) community: he's got Cuban groups fighting against each other, he's got the Cuban community criticizing the administration," said Otto Reich, President George W. Bush's chief advisor on Latin America.

"This was a million-dollar operation; you cannot buy that kind of discord," Reich told AFP.

The administration has come under criticism from prominent Cuban-American leaders for sending back to Cuba a dozen people intercepted at sea after allegedly hijacking a Cuban government boat in a bid to flee the communist-run island last month.

"I feel some of the incidents recently do not pass the smell test of being genuine," Reich told AFP, largely in reference to the apparent hijacking. "I think that the Cuban (American) community is the target of Castro."***

Senate panel OKs nominee for envoy to Latin America*** It was not known Thursday when the Senate might take up the issue, but Noriega supporters are attempting to get the full Senate to approve the nomination before the August recess. That will be difficult, however, because of an existing ''hold'' implemented by a Democratic senator that could leave the nomination in limbo. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana is using the legislative move to pressure Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to allow an up-or-down vote on the full Senate floor for a proposal to relax restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba.

The committee's 15-3 vote on Noriega, the current U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States, came after a series of behind-the-scene battles between Capitol Hill and the State Department over a demand by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., to review a classified ''end of tour'' cable issued by the former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana before leaving the post about 10 months ago.***

Latin Americans hail the new U.S. policy chief***WASHINGTON - After years of feeling all but forgotten by Washington, Latin American officials Wednesday welcomed Roger Noriega's confirmation as the first Senate-approved assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs since 1999.

''This is one of the best decisions the Senate has made in more than five years,'' El Salvador Ambassador Rene Antonio León Rodríguez said after the Senate vote late Tuesday. ``U.S. policy will have a champion now. And the region will finally get the attention it deserves.''

Noriega's confirmation came after a long delay because Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had been blocking the vote for months in an effort to force a Senate vote on his proposal for easing restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba.

………Baucus aides said he lifted his ''hold'' on Noriega's confirmation after a compromise in which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whose leaders had been holding up his proposals on Cuba travel, will vote on his bill this fall.

''We expect it to pass the committee overwhelmingly,'' said Laura Hays, a spokeswoman for Baucus, who is planning a trip to Cuba in September. ``This is a great accomplishment.''***

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