RACHEL LA CORTE
Associated Press

MIAMI - President Bush's first trip to Miami since his administration imposed strict restrictions on travel to Cuba was met Friday by supporters who say the hardline stance punishes Fidel Castro and opponents who say the policies only hurt the communist island's poorest residents.

Cuban-Americans are an important bloc for Bush in this key state - he carried their votes by a 4-to-1 margin when he won the state by 537 votes in 2000, capturing the White House.

Some say the tighter restrictions recently imposed on travel were meant to bolster the president's support among Cuban-Americans, but may have backfired by angering some who voted for him four years ago.

Fifty-year-old Santiago Ortinas said he has lived in Miami for the past 10 years, but most of his family still resides in Cuba. He said he was a registered Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, but will vote for John Kerry in this year's election because of the new restrictions.

"I didn't believe it," he said when he heard about the new restrictions, which did not let him visit when his grandmother recently died. "We are in a Democratic country."

Ortinas was one of about 70 people in a diverse protesting group outside the president's Friday afternoon rally at Miami Arena. Protesters were clinging bells and chanting "No More Bush" as Bush spoke inside.

Many carried signs criticizing the Bush administration's decision to restrict travel to Cuba reading: "New regulations step on our rights as Americans" and "Bush: Don't divide the Cuban family."

"I want to know why Bush can go to his nephew's wedding, and I can't go visit my nephew in Cuba," said 54-year-old Herminia Gonzalez, who has lived in Miami for 16 years.

The new rules bar Cuban-Americans from visiting family on the island more than once every three years instead of once a year, with no humanitarian exceptions. They also limit visits to 14 days and daily spending to $50 per person.

Before, there were no limits on visit length and people could spend $167 a day.

"Bush's last-minute stance on Cuba was a political ploy," said Gloria Nunez-Turkel, executive director of Cuban Americans for Change Inc., which opposes current U.S. policies on Cuba. "It's just so harsh and inhumane."

However, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, said Bush will receive even more Cuban-American votes than he did in 2000. Recent polls show Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry neck-and-neck among all Florida voters.

"There is no community in the country that supports George W. Bush more than the Cuban-American community," Diaz-Balart said.

One Bush supporter at the rally was 72-year-old Fabiola Calvo, who attended the President's speech and said the Administration's new rules would help Cuba out in the long run.

"I think it's the right thing to help it become a democratic Cuba," Calvo said.

The Cuban American National Foundation took out a full-page ad in The Miami Herald Thursday with a letter to the president stating "in this election, Cuban Americans are more concerned with substantial progress than ever before."

The letter asked the end of the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy that lets Cubans who reach U.S. shores remain, but returns most of those intercepted at sea. The foundation supports the ban on tourists and says that the four-decade economic embargo against the island should remain in place, but wants the tougher restrictions on family visits lifted.

An identical letter was also separately sent to Bush's Democratic opponent, John Kerry.

"That undecided vote is a huge factor in this election," said Joe Garcia, the foundation's executive director. "The person who lays out a credible vision and begins implementation or lays out a plan, is going to get the ear of the Cuban-American community. This community knows how important each and every one of their votes are."

Last summer, Bush had a wake-up call from the Cuban-American community when he received a letter from 13 Republican state lawmakers that said he could lose their support if he fails to adopt a tougher Cuba policy.

The Cuban-American leaders' letter asked the administration to revise its current migration policy, indict Castro for the 1996 shoot down of two private planes by Cuban fighter jets and give more aid to dissidents on the island.

The issues were raised following criticism of the Bush administration by Cuban-American leaders for its July 2003 decision to return 12 Cubans suspected of hijacking a boat who were intercepted by U.S. ships as they tried to reach Florida. Six of the men were imprisoned upon their return, the other six freed.

Garcia said the president quickly realized that he couldn't take the community's vote for granted.

"If one half of one percent of the Cuban community in the last election had decided to stay home, we'd be talking about Al Gore's re-election right now," he said.

Matthew Miller, a Florida spokesman for Kerry, said Democrats are launching an aggressive outreach campaign in the Cuban-American community, registering new voters and persuading others why they should vote for a Democrat.

"George Bush has not been a friend to the Cuban people and he's not been a friend to Cuban-Americans who have family on the island," Miller said.

But others say whatever inroads Kerry may make into the community will be small, and that come Election Day a variety of factors will come into play.

"I think too much has been made about the Cuban community being split or divided," said Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuba and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami. "Florida is not going to be won or lost on the Cuban vote. It's a very diverse state."