By CAROL ROSENBERG
             Herald Staff Writer

             In a bid to fill the shoes of Jorge Mas Canosa, President Clinton on Tuesday
             named Cuban-American labor leader Jose ``Pepe'' Collado to chair the Advisory
             Board for Cuban Broadcasting, the board that oversees Radio and TV Marti.

             Mas was the first and only chairman of the board, which Ronald Reagan created in
             1984. His hold on the post symbolized his Washington insider's status that gave
             him unrivaled influence over U.S. policy toward Cuba as head of the Cuban
             American National Foundation.

             The job has been vacant since his death more than a year ago.

             Collado, 52, was by some measures an obvious pick but also a surprising one.
             Insiders said the new chairman had to be a Cuban American and had to be a
             Democrat, limiting the pool from which President Clinton could pick. Collado is
             not known as a political insider, something underscored by his absence from
             Miami and Washington on Tuesday when the sensitive appointment was
             announced. Instead he was traveling to New Orleans for meetings with locals of
             the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, of which he is the
             vice president for the region spanning Texas to Florida and Puerto Rico.

             He could not be reached for comment -- and neither could the Foundation, whose
             members, Washington insiders said, had differed with the White House over the
             appointment.

             Collado's nomination requires confirmation from the Senate. But the prominent
             Democrat got instant support from South Florida's Republican Cuban-American
             members of Congress.

             Ileana Ros-Lehtinen declared herself ``pleased as punch'' to learn of the selection.
             ``I think he's a great leader, got wonderful solid ideas, both progressive as well as
             practical,'' she said, adding she was particularly interested in working with him on
             improving transmissions to Cuba.

             `A man of integrity'

             ``He's got good ties to many Cuban exile organizations as well as every one else in
             our community,'' Ros-Lehtinen said. ``He's a good leader, a good coalition builder
             and a nice sweet gentleman. I couldn't think of anyone better.''

             Lincoln Diaz-Balart called Collado a friend of more than 20 years, and ``one of
             the people who I most admire.'' Collado, an active Democrat, is ``a man of
             integrity, character and true leadership,'' Diaz-Balart said.

             The nine-member Washington-based Advisory Board for Cuban Broadcasting has
             a single staffer, its executive director, and a small budget. It meets several times a
             year to prepare a report for the president on the problems, successes and
             progress of the twin broadcasting Martis.

             Board members are not paid. They have no statutory authority, contrary to the
             impression the board created during the Mas Canosa years. The board derives its
             clout from its association with the president, Washington insiders say, meaning that
             the director, a government employee appointed by the State Department, takes
             cues from the chairman.

             Citizen since '73

             A native of Camagüey, Collado came to the United States at age 15 in October
             1961 under the sponsorship of the Pedro Pan Movement. He become a U.S.
             citizen nearly 12 years later, on the Fourth of July, 1973. He has never returned to
             the island, friends say.

             As a young man, Collado had a hard time breaking into Miami's mostly Anglo
             building and trades business -- encountering bias that inspired him to become
             active in union activities, said Florida International University Professor Guillermo
             Grenier, who heads FIU's Labor Center. Later, Collado worked as a carpenter
             on several downtown Miami skyscrapers.

             His resume -- supplied by the White House -- said he first joined the carpenters
             union, Miami Local 405, in 1969. It details a long list of local, regional and national
             union activities. At one point AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland named him to the
             organization's Labor Committee for a Free Cuba.

             Protested inaction

             Grenier, who was consulted by the State Department for Collado's background
             check, said Collado once quit that committee in protest over its do-nothing
             practices. He described Collado as ``the highest ranking Hispanic'' in the
             American carpenter's union -- and one of the highest ranking labor movement
             Hispanics.

             ``He's not a Washington guy, he has no idea what Washington looks like outside
             his own union's business. But he's got a very solid, deep base in the working-class
             community here,'' Grenier said. ``He has a strong base in the community among a
             large group of working class people. Every Hispanic in the labor movement would
             know who Pepe Collado is.''

             Defended embargo

             Collado also has strong Cuban-American credentials and opposes lifting the U.S.
             embargo of Cuba, said fellow Cuban American Susana Gomez of the AFL-CIO's
             human and civil rights division in Washington.

             ``I think Mas Canosa had his own stature and perhaps his own political
             ambitions,'' Gomez said. ``I don't think Pepe's goal is political. His goal is the
             reestablishment of democracy in Cuba and the right to organize and the
             reestablishment of civil and worker rights in Cuba.''

             From time to time, at national meetings of Hispanic workers -- mostly left-leaning
             Chicanos and Puerto Ricans -- Collado has found himself in a room filled with
             people who oppose the economic embargo of Cuba, said Grenier. Then,
             singlehandedly through persuasion, he has stopped them from adopting
             anti-sanctions resolutions.

             Collado lives in Westchester and has a wife, two children and two grandchildren.

             Clinton also on Tuesday nominated attorney Avis LaVelle, a Democratic party
             activist from Chicago, to the advisory board.

             That leaves seven other openings -- four for Republicans and three for Democrats,
             under the formula that gives the party of the president majority membership on the
             board.

             Republican recommendations

             According to a government official, Senate Majority leader Trent Lott, a
             Republican, has recommended that the GOP slots be filled by:

               Former Radio Mambi owner Amancio Suarez;

               Foundation member Clara Elena DelValle;

               South Florida businessman Jorge Arrizurieta;

               Longtime board member Christopher Coursen, who is not Cuban American.

             Clinton, meanwhile, has ordered background checks on Humberto Perez, a
             Cuban American from New Jersey whose nomination is sought by Rep. Robert
             Menendez, D-N.J.; Annie Betancourt, a state lawmaker from Kendall; and Elena
             Amos of Georgia, a wealthy and prominent anti-Castro activist best known for
             sponsoring the defection of Alina Fernandez Revuelta, Fidel Castro's daughter.

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