Cuba's top diplomat in Washington tries to see what action may arise from U.S. hostility to communist rule on the island.

  BY GEORGE GEDDA
  Associated Press

  WASHINGTON - Dabogerto Rodríguez, Cuba's top diplomat in Washington, spends his days looking for hints about what the Bush administration has in
  mind for his country. He doesn't like what he sees.

  He wonders: Is ''regime change'' in the cards in this election year? That possibility can't be ruled out, he says, because the administration ``has proved a
  tendency in the past to solve problems through violent means.''

  CHANGE IN CUBA

  The Bush White House has never outlined such an objective. It has, however, expressed an interest in hastening a transition to democratic rule in
  communist-run Cuba.

  Rodríguez is not sure what that means, and he spelled out his concerns to a reporter in an interview last week at Cuba's stately diplomatic mission not far
  from the White House.

  He said Cuba's suspicions have been heightened by what he sees as several ''provocative'' U.S. actions in recent times.

  One was what he described as the unjustified expulsion of Cuban diplomat Roberto Socorro García last month. Rodríguez adamantly denied news accounts
  attributed to State Department officials that García was expelled for associating with criminal elements.

  Another concern was the State Department's recent cancellation of talks on migration issues, which normally are held every six months. U.S. officials said
  Cuba has not been cooperating in achieving the goal of safe, orderly and legal immigration. Rodríguez denied the allegation, contending that Cuba always
  takes U.S. proposals seriously.

  To Rodríguez, the most inexplicable and troubling development has been the recent U.S. allegation of Cuban meddling in Latin America, sometimes in
  collaboration with the country's main South American ally, Venezuela.

  ''That issue could legitimately have been raised 20 years ago, but not now,'' Rodríguez said, pointing out that Cuba has normal relations with all
  hemispheric countries except El Salvador.

  ''They are trying to re-create the phantom of Cuban interference,'' he said.

  U.S. PERCEPTION

  As the administration sees it, Cuban President Fidel Castro is indeed, at age 77, reviving his efforts to generate unrest in the region.

  ''It should be very clear to Fidel Castro that his actions have caught the attention of Latin America leaders and that his actions to destabilize Latin America
  are increasingly provocative to the inter-American community,'' says Roger Noriega, the State Department's top aide for Latin America.

  Speaking at a Jan. 6 news conference in New York, Noriega said, ``Those that continue in destabilizing democratically elected governments, interfering in
  the internal affairs of other governments, are playing with fire.''

  Rodríguez listed several potential U.S. options for punishing Cuba: suspending food sales, cutting off dollar transfers from Cuban Americans to family
  members on the island or sharply reducing U.S. air links to Cuba. None is likely to be adopted, he said, because of legal and political constraints on the
  administration.

  ''We are seeing the administration trying to create a climate that justifies I don't know what kind of action,'' the Cuban diplomat said. He suggested the
  answers may come in early May when President Bush gets a report from an official panel on Cuba that he set up in October. The panel, ''The Commission
  for a Free Cuba,'' is headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell.