BY ALFONSO CHARDY

 Several Cuban exile organizations took a hard-line stand on U.S. policies against Cuba this week by taking out a full-page ad in The Herald urging Miami exiles to stay strong in their opposition to Fidel Castro and anyone associated with his regime.

 Although ad sponsors said it was prompted by Castro's fainting June 23 that renewed speculation about the possible collapse of his regime, it also comes amid the Latin Grammy controversy that climaxed Monday when organizers canceled the show in Miami because of planned exile protests.

 Many exiles were upset about the possibility that performers from Cuba would attend the event.

 Preparation of the ad preceded the Latin Grammy flap, but some of the people who signed it -- including several who recently resigned in protest from the Cuban American National Foundation -- said it also serves as a warning to fellow exiles who endorsed bringing the event to Miami.

 ``It is a message that fixes our view that there should not be any kind of deviation in the exile community from the position of never compromising with the Castro regime or any other type of alternative of toleration that only serves to send mixed signals to the Communist regime,'' said Diego Suárez, a former senior foundation official.

 Suárez was among those who signed the ad, titled Declaration of Principles. The message of no compromise, the signers said, was this: ``We irrevocably reaffirm that we will not accept any understanding, pact or arrangement with Fidel and Raúl Castro, or with anyone who would perpetuate the present regime or the existing system in any of its variants, under the pretense of a transitional government.''

 Suárez, who also was one of 22 officials who quit the Cuban American National Foundation, said the decision by Jorge Más Santos, the CANF chairman, to co-sign a letter with four other Miami-Dade County civic leaders Feb. 2 inviting the Latin Grammys to Miami amounted to a deviation from that principle.

 ``Look at the problems and headaches this young man has brought about,'' Suárez said, referring to Más Santos. ``The consequences are division in the foundation,
 confusion in the exile community and disruption in Miami.''

 Más Santos said bringing the Latin Grammys to Miami was not an attempt to compromise with Castro but to show tolerance toward other communities. In fact, Más Santos said, he agreed with the principles in the Declaration of Principles because they are nearly identical to the foundation's own principles.

 ``If it's a message to me, they are wasting their time,'' Más Santos said, adding he had no regrets about inviting the Latin Grammys because the move showed that the exile community is not intolerant.

 Más Santos said only a ``small minority'' came out in opposition, a stance that he said ``unfortunately coincides with the Cuban government that does not want the event here.''

 On Monday, Latin Grammy organizers canceled the show in Miami and took it back to Los Angeles, citing concerns about the safety of participants in light of planned exile protests.

 This week's Herald ad, which cost $15,208, was sponsored by the Cuban Patriotic Forum, an organization that last year helped to organize a business strike in Miami in the aftermath of the raid in which federal agents seized Elián González at his Miami relatives' home.

 The organizations that signed the ad included such traditional groups as the Brigade 2506 Bay of Pigs Veterans Association as well as six former foundation officials who were among the 22 who have quit.

 Also among the signers was Antonio Jorge, a Florida International University professor of economics and international relations, who said Más Santos' involvement in bringing the Latin Grammys was ``inappropriate.''

                                    © 2001