U.S. Ready To Pull Some Teeth From Cuba Policy President Plans Package Of Executive Orders Allowing Direct Flights To Havana, Increased Medical Sales

Reacting to Pope John Paul II’s call to promote change in Cuba, the Clinton administration is expected to announce a series of measures Friday that would roll back restrictions on air travel, cash remittances and medical sales to the island and clear the way for food transfers.

The package of steps, which Secretary of State Madeleine Albright outlined to lawmakers Thursday, once again would allow direct flights between Miami and Havana and permit Cuban Americans to send up to $300 every three months to island relatives through licensed brokers.

The planned changes drew swift praise from Catholic leaders and some exiles, who rallied to the pope’s recent appeals to bolster the Catholic Church in Cuba and take “practical steps” to improve living conditions of the Cuban people.

“The U.S. Catholic Conference welcomes this signal of a beginning of a change in U.S. Cuba policy,” said Thomas Quigley, Latin America adviser for the U.S. bishops. “It clearly matches some of what the Church in Cuba and in the U.S. have been asking for.”

But Cuban-American lawmakers instantly denounced the reforms as a political victory for Cuban President Fidel Castro and a step toward more regular ties with the island.

“We are not going to let (President) Clinton proceed along the path of normalization. Period,” said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

The administration’s package would also help U.S. pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies sell their products in Cuba. Although such sales already are legal, the change would reduce the paperwork burden and help identify medicines that would not likely be used for re-export or torture.

Clinton also is expected to order his aides to work with bipartisan Congressional leaders on legislation to promote shipments of food to ordinary Cubans, in the form of donations or sales. Officials said the president is considering supporting a bill backed by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and the Cuban American National Foundation to make federal funds available to charity groups to send food to Cuba.

Taken together, the changes represent the most sweeping policy shift toward Cuba since 1996, when Clinton angrily agreed to tighten the U.S. trade embargo and punish the government of President Fidel Castro for shooting down two civilian planes piloted by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue.

This time, however, Clinton’s shift is in the direction of reducing tensions with Cuba, and seems aimed at reviving a dormant policy of outreach to nongovernmental players on the island. The measures are to be taken by executive order, meaning no Congressional action would be needed.

The steps come weeks after the president dispatched Albright and other aides to gather opinions in Miami, at the Vatican and on Capitol Hill, with eyes on continuing the momentum of the pope’s trip to Cuba in January.

State Department spokesman Jim Foley, who declined to discuss specifics of the package Thursday, said only: “These consultations have been about finding ways in which we can assist the Cuban people without re-energizing the government. A decision is in the final stages, and we hope to be able to make an announcement in the next few days.”

But a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he believed the pope’s visit has stirred wide support for deepening the humanitarian aspect of U.S. policy.

“There seems to be a broad-based consensus that it was an important event, that Cubans are increasingly looking to a Cuba beyond Castro, and that we need to help them prepare the steps toward a peaceful transition,” the official said.