There's disagreement in Miami and Washington on whether to send cash directly to Cuban dissidents.

Juan Carlos Acosta, director of Accion Democratica Cubana, which has received about $1.5 million from USAID since 2000, said Cuban dissidents need dollars.

''The opposition there has to eat, live and move around, and buy things. The stores that sell things for dollars in Cuba have things that I send from here,'' said Acosta, whose group ships computers, medicine and other items.

But some nonprofit USAID groups say they oppose sending cash because the Cuban government would benefit. Cubans must buy from state-run stores that jack up prices. 'Some say: `Let's send $80 million in aid to Cuba' -- that's sending it to Fidel,'' said Frank Hernández Trujillo, director of Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia. Shipping charges have cost nearly half the $7.4 million his group has received .

Acosta said his group pays about $13 a pound to use professional smugglers. Shipping to other Caribbean nations costs about $1 a pound, he said.

Cuban exiles who send medicine and certain foods to their loved ones in Cuba can pay $12, according to Va Cuba, a South Florida company.