BY OSCAR CORRAL

  Dozens of local Republican-elected leaders have signed their names to a letter to President Bush urging him to make changes to Cuba policy, a week after a group of state representatives sent the White House a similar note.

  The letter echoes the message some Cuban-American leaders have delivered recently to Bush: Get tougher on Castro or risk losing Cuban-American support in the 2004 election.

  ''We must not ignore the potential for significant erosion in the loyalty of our constituency, which is frustrated by the unfulfilled promise made by every candidate for
  president over the last 40 years: a free Cuba,'' the letter says.

  Hialeah Councilman Esteban Bovo, who drafted the document, said he followed the lead of several state legislators who sent a letter Monday to the White House asking for changes in Cuba policy.

  He sent it Friday to Washington by certified mail.

  The letter asks the president to authorize improvements in Radio and TV Martí; implement Title III of the Helms-Burton Act; abolish the wet foot/dry foot immigration policy that repatriates most Cubans picked up at sea; and stop the sale of food to Cuba by U.S. farmers.

  ''We supported your candidacy for President with great enthusiasm, and we expected a more proactive approach to the Cuba situation,'' the letter said. ``Sadly, as of today, little has changed.''

  `FIRMLY DEDICATED'

  White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said the White House had not yet received the letter, but she reiterated Bush's commitment to a tough Cuba policy.

  ''The administration remains firmly dedicated to a proactive Cuba policy that will assist the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom,'' Mamo said. ``The president
  remains committed to the goal of achieving a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy by using the dissuasive tools of the economic embargo and travel restrictions.''

  The U.S. embargo has been the keystone of its Cuba policy for 43 years.

  State Rep. David Rivera, who drafted the White House letter signed by 13 Republican state legislators this week, said he is heartened to see other elected leaders follow their lead.

  ''I welcome any good-faith effort to provide suggestions or a road map that has as a goal the reelection of President Bush,'' Rivera said.

  The letter is signed by 34 Republican Cuban Americans who hold a wide range of offices, from County Commission to Hialeah Gardens City Council.

  It thanks Bush for his leadership but expresses ``deep concern over your administration's policy toward Cuba.''

  Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said the letter is more bad news for the Bush administration.

  Garcia and CANF have led recent criticism of the White House.

  ''This is what you call a rebellion,'' Garcia said. ``Cubans now feel discriminated against. [The president] doesn't dignify Cuban Americans with an answer.''

  But some of the politicians who signed the letter said they do not want it to seem like a threat.

  County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, who signed the letter, said she merely wants Bush to remember his commitments to Cuban Americans.

  MAYBE STAY NEUTRAL

  Miami Commissioner Tomas Regalado, a Spanish-language radio commentator and longtime Republican, said if nothing changes on Cuba policy, he would consider remaining neutral in the 2004 election.

  ''I would say on radio that we asked [the president] for things and he didn't answer,'' Regalado said. ``The letter is not an ultimatum. It's a unified message.''