BY CHRISTINA HOAG

  Washington, clamping down on travel by non-Cuban Americans to the island, has overturned a Clinton-era policy that permitted hummingbird conservationists, train enthusiasts and cinema buffs and others to visit.

  Cuba-solidarity groups and travel agencies are protesting the end to the nonacademic people-to-people educational licenses, but some acknowledge that numerous entities simply used the licenses to build tour-operator businesses.

  ''It was an immensely abused program,'' said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. ``A few rotten apples ruined it for all.''

  The new travel restriction, contained in a sweeping set of changes to U.S. policy on Cuba, is not related to the Cuban government's recent crackdown on dissidents or the April 11 firing-squad execution of three men who had hijacked a passenger ferry in an attempt to escape.

  The new travel policy, which went into effect on March 24, also does not affect trips by Cuban Americans visiting relatives. In fact, the new rules broaden family visits and the amount of money that can be taken for relatives.

  The definition of a close relative now encompasses three generations instead of two, permitting a Cuban American to visit a second cousin or great-grandparent. And visitors can take, per trip, up to $3,000 in remittances for 10 households, up from $300.

  135,000 WENT IN 2002

  An estimated 135,000 licensed Americans, mostly Cuban Americans, visited Cuba last year. And thousands of others go there annually via third countries.

  The new policy, which eliminates the most popular way for non-Cuban Americans to visit, represents a Bush administration crackdown. Public comment will be received until May 23, after which a final ruling will be issued.

  The Office of Foreign Control Assets has issued about 25,000 people-to-people educational licenses to groups, institutions and individuals since President Clinton started the program in 1999.

  The licenses are valid for 24 months, during which unlimited trips could be made with any number of travelers. Under the new rules, licenses will be allowed to expire and no new ones issued.

  U.S. citizens may still travel to Cuba in such official capacities as journalists, scholars and religious or humanitarian workers. One people-to-people licensee has already applied for a religious license.

  ''I saw this coming,'' said Cary Podell, who, as head of Los Angeles' Cuba Travel Culture Tours, sends small groups weekly on trips that focus on music, religion and dance.

  ``I don't know what the Bush administration is doing. We let people have the humbling experience of [seeing] what the Cubans are going through.''

  A COTTAGE INDUSTRY

  The people-to-people licenses have given rise to a cottage industry in special-interest trips to the island. Some groups advertise tours in classifieds and on the Internet, while others market directly to alumni associations or organizations like the YMCA.

  Itineraries commonly revolve around Cuban staples like the tobacco industry, colonial architecture, religion and music as well as visits to hospitals, schools, factories and farms. Some groups organize island tours by bicycle or old sugar trains.

  Education can be cultural as well as academic, licensees point out. The Bridge for Historic Preservation, a Cape Coral group, organizes such history-oriented trips.

  ''These are architects, historians,'' Bridge President Juan Romagosa said. ``They're not going to vacation; they're going to learn.''

  Program participants say the trips offer a chance for interaction among Americans and Cubans, resulting in better mutual understanding by two nations that have been at loggerheads for 44 years.

  Carolyn Meanley, a University of Houston librarian who went in 1999, said seeing how the communist country works was unforgettable.

  ''I don't get that kind of information here. The people were fantastic. I was totally amazed and in awe the whole time,'' adding that she has since sent books to the National Library in Havana.

  ''These people-to-people exchanges gave ordinary people the ability to see and experience the complexity of U.S.-Cuba relations,'' said Lisa Valanti, president of the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association, whose members have used the licenses to study museums and botanical gardens as well as cement city partnerships.

  ``We see ourselves as an educational organization, but we're not scientists; we're ordinary people.''

  PROTESTS ADVOCATED

  Marazul Charters of Miami and New Jersey, a travel agency specializing in trips to the island, is urging people to protest the program's end.

  Participants, Marazul wrote, ``have traveled through the length and breadth of Cuba, visiting people from all walks of life, exchanging ideas and experiences, breaking through walls of prejudice and preconceptions nurtured through lack of contact. Lives have been enriched.''

  But some say the program lost its original purpose.

  ''The vast majority of these programs were guided tours, with participants seeing what the Cuban government wants you to see,'' said Dennis K. Hays, executive vice president of the Cuban American National Foundation, which supports the embargo.

  ``This was putting dollars in the pocket of the Cuban regime so they can continue their repression. This change is getting back to the original intent of the law.''

  Even Podell, of Cuba Travel Culture Tours, admits to having received inquiries from people who ''just want to party'' but says he tells them, ``You can't do that.''

  ''I guess it has been abused,'' he said.