Rules, such as stricter limits on their visits to island, called inhumane

By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA – Juan Franco wanted the moment to last just a little longer, but finally he had to let his daughter go, giving her a tight hug before she boarded her flight back to Florida.

Now Mr. Franco, 54, of Havana, won't be able to see Iviana, 27, for three years because of new U.S. rules limiting the number of trips Cuban-Americans can make to the island.

The regulations take effect today, severely restricting Cuban-Americans' ability to travel to Cuba and send money to their relatives.

Washington's aim is to strangle the socialist government economically and force Fidel Castro from power.

But many Cuban-Americans say the strategy is cruel.

"The U.S. government is separating families," said Ms. Franco, a cashier who lives in Hialeah, Fla. "It's inhumane."

Her father was more blunt: "Give me President Bush, and I'll tear him into little pieces."

The new rules, some Cuban-Americans say, are likely to increase the number of people traveling to Cuba illegally through third countries such as Mexico.

The measures may also cost Mr. Bush Cuban-American votes in November.

"A lot of people in Havana and Miami are against these rules," said Caty Gonzalez, 41, a Miami accountant visiting her niece in Havana.

A government commission headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell recommended the policy changes in May. The commission said Cuban-Americans send their relatives cash remittances totaling $400 million to more than $1 billion per year. Cubans spend much of the money at government-run stores where products are typically marked up as much as 240 percent. And those revenues help keep the Castro regime alive, U.S. officials say.

Under the new regulations, Cuban-Americans can no longer send cash to uncles, aunts, cousins and nephews. Only immediate family members – grandparents, parents, children and siblings – are allowed to receive up to $1,200 per year.

The rules also reduce to $50 from $164 the amount of money Cuban-Americans can spend per day on food and lodging while in Cuba.

About 160,000 travelers – including an estimated 125,000 Cuban-Americans – visited Cuba from the United States last year. Under the old rules, Cuban-Americans were allowed one visit per year.

Bush supporters say the new measures are justified because the Cuban government exploits Cuban-Americans, charging them millions of dollars in excessive taxes and duty to help prop up the socialist system.

"The Cuban government complains about U.S. policy, yet when a nun takes powdered milk to the poor in Cuba, she must pay taxes on it," said Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, an anti-Castro group in Washington, D.C.

The Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, the largest anti-Castro lobbying group, did not endorse the limits on travel and remittances. The measures have divided the Cuban-American community, pitting those who arrived shortly after the 1959 revolution against those who journeyed to the United States after 1980, the foundation said.

"After almost five decades, what enables our community to thrive ... are the bonds of family, intrinsic in Cuban culture and nationality. These family ties are what will enable the Cuban people to reconstruct what the Castro regime has destroyed," the foundation said.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said in a statement that he doesn't entirely agree with the Bush administration's Cuba policy.

Limiting cash remittances is a "cynical and misguided ploy for a few Florida votes," he said. "A policy of isolation and deprivation sends the wrong message to the Cuban people and strengthens Castro."

Mr. Powell's commission also recommends increasing funding for democracy-building programs in Cuba to $41 million from $7 million; carrying out sting operations to capture people who send money to Cuba illegally; limiting Cuban-Americans' luggage to 44 pounds when entering Cuba; banning visits of more than 14 days; and prohibiting travelers from returning to the United States with rum and cigars produced by Cuba's state-run companies.

A U.S. official in Havana said Cuban government criticism of the measures is unwarranted. It "seems Mr. Castro is more concerned with creating an external boogeyman than in figuring out how to put food on Cubans' plates," the official said.