By WILLIAM MARCH

TAMPA - Mel Martinez, a refugee from Fidel Castro's Cuba, aggressively seeks the votes of anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in his U.S. Senate race.
However, one person involved in his Republican campaign is a man who could be a lightning rod for Cuban-American anger over the most emotional U.S.-Cuba crisis in years.

William West, the former federal agent featured in a Martinez television commercial, was a key planner of the pre-dawn raid in which refugee child Elian Gonzalez was removed from the Miami home of relatives in 2000 to be sent back to Cuba to live with his father.

Cuban-American outrage over the case hasn't cooled.

``I'm shocked,'' said Luis Mata, of Miami's Little Havana area, after being told late Tuesday about the role of West, now retired from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Mata described himself as a Cuban-American who votes Republican and was among the crowd that gathered around the home where Elian was staying four years ago, vowing to prevent the boy from being taken away.

``I'm saddened by the news that [Martinez] would affiliate with this person,'' Mata said. ``This will most definitely affect my vote.''

West oversaw the intelligence unit that conducted surveillance of the home before the raid. He said his agents saw some people in the crowd outside carrying guns, and as a result the raid involved dozens of INS and Border Patrol agents, some heavily armed.

One photo from the raid, showing an officer with riot gear and a machine gun confronting a frightened man holding the crying boy, particularly infuriated many of the voters being wooed by Martinez.

When Janet Reno, the attorney general who approved the raid, recently campaigned in Miami for Martinez's opponent, Democrat Betty Castor, the Martinez campaign sent out a news release accusing Reno of having sent a gang of ``armed thugs'' to seize Elian.

Martinez later called the release a mistake he didn't approve.

West, who made an anti- Castor ad for Martinez, has not criticized the ``thugs'' comment publicly. On Tuesday, though, he said he is proud of the raid and considers it a success because the objective was achieved with no major injuries.

``I really don't care what Mel Martinez or Betty Castor or Janet Reno or anybody else thinks about the Elian operation,'' he said. ``We did it professionally. They can view it whatever way they want. I don't care.''

Asked whether West's involvement in the campaign could be a problem for Martinez, campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Coxe said, ``No. Why would it be? He's an INS agent. He was doing his job. He was directed to do something by the attorney general of the United States, and he did it.''
 

Different Reactions

Some Cuban-Americans may share moderate views on the subject.

Simon Canasi, a Tampa businessman who favors Martinez, said the West connection will not affect his vote. Despite his role as a local director of the anti-Castro Cuban American National Foundation, Canasi said, ``Cuba is one issue among many others that are more paramount at this time. Others feel more strongly about the [Elian] issue.''

One of those others is Fred Balsera, a Miami political consultant also involved in CANF who describes himself as a Democrat leaning toward Martinez.

``This really brings into question his judgment, especially when he's running on a very Cuban-American platform,'' Balsera said. ``You can't have it both ways, running that campaign and running an ad with somebody that many in the Cuban community consider to be one of the biggest betrayals of the Cuban community.''

West became involved with the Martinez campaign because of another controversy, the one over Sami Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor indicted last year on charges of aiding terrorists in the Middle East.

West was a key figure in the federal investigation of Al-Arian and some of his associates, also linked to USF, that began in 1994. Martinez has charged that Castor, president of USF from 1994 to 1999, didn't act aggressively enough against Al-Arian after news reports exposed some of his alleged links to terrorism.

In the ad he made for Martinez, West says: ``Stopping terrorists takes aggressive action, and Betty Castor did not deliver.''
 

Personal Histories

Castor has responded that she couldn't fire Al-Arian, who had tenure and a union contract, based on suspicions, even those raised by federal investigators in affidavits linking Al-Arian to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al-Arian wasn't fired until last year by Castor's successor - after he was indicted and years after he also visited the White House and appeared at a campaign event with President Bush, whose Florida campaign chairman at the time was Martinez.

Martinez's personal history is expected to help him and the Republican presidential ticket win Hispanic votes in Florida on Nov. 2. Martinez arrived in the United States as a teen refugee from communist Cuba and rose to become Bush's Cabinet-level housing chief.

Elian landed in the United States after his mother drowned trying to bring him to Miami. Family took him in, and the Miami Cuban community argued passionately that he remain.

Reporter Michael Fechter contributed to this report. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.