Many Cuban Americans welcomed the choice of a longtime congressional staffer to oversee U.S.-Cuba policy.

BY NANCY SAN MARTIN

WASHINGTON - A Republican congressional staffer with 20 years of involvement in hemispheric issues was named Thursday to a new State Department post to hasten democratic transition in communist Cuba.

Caleb McCarry, 43, will serve as the Cuba ''transition coordinator,'' a position mandated by President Bush a year ago to implement measures designed to help bring an end to Fidel Castro's 46-year rule and provide assistance to a subsequent democratic Cuba.

''For nearly 50 years, the regime of Fidel Castro has condemned the people of Cuba to a tragic fate of repression and poverty,'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as part of McCarry's introduction, adding that the appointment will ``accelerate the demise of Castro's tyranny.''

Before an audience of Cuban-American legislators, exile leaders and other supporters of U.S.-Cuba policy, McCarry said, ``It is the responsibility of the civilized world to act to see that the Cuban family is reunited under political and economic freedom.''

Speaking on Miami's Radio Mambi, McCarry summed up his appointment with the words he said will soon be shouted from every corner of José Martí's Cuba: ``Viva Cuba libre.''

Many Cuban Americans welcomed McCarry, calling him ''a friend'' of the exile mission to oust Castro.

''He knows our cause well,'' said Horacio García, a director of the Cuban Liberty Council. ``They chose a person with commitment and passion.''

''He's extremely bright and thoroughly knowledgeable on the issue of Cuba,'' said Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, R-Miami. ``He knows who's who and he knows where we need to go.''

The new post was one of the initiatives in the May 2004 Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba report. Other measures include tightened restrictions on travel and remittances, increased support for the island's dissident movement and additional funding for Radio and TV Martí transmissions.

The appointment follows a new round of arrests in Havana and a stern warning by Castro earlier this week that ''acts of treason'' would not be tolerated. Castro has accused opponents of being paid U.S. ''mercenaries,'' a charge denied by U.S. officials.

McCarry has worked for the House International Relations Committee for eight years after moving from the Washington-based Center for Democracy.

Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, called the choice critical to advance Bush's ``freedom agenda.''

''[McCarry] is going to be the point man on Cuba,'' Noriega said.

Herald staff writer Frances Robles contributed to this report.