BY ANA RADELAT
 Special to The Herald

 WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jesse Helms' Foreign Relations Committee voted
 Thursday to allow food sales to Cuba and other nations under U.S. trade
 sanctions, opening the door to congressional consideration of easing the
 38-year-old embargo against Havana.

 The North Carolina Republican has long opposed easing sanctions on Cuba but
 has been under mounting pressure to change his position from Republican farm
 state senators seeking new markets for U.S. agricultural goods after years of
 depressed prices.

 In January, Helms agreed to include legislation sponsored by Sen. John Ashcroft,
 R-Mo., that would allow licensed sales to the island in his ``trade assistance,
 trade promotion and anti-corruption'' bill.

 The bill, approved by voice vote by the foreign relations panel, also provides
 assistance to African victims of AIDS and $600 million in debt relief to developing
 countries.

 On Thursday, Helms echoed the arguments of many farm state lawmakers,
 saying money spent by ``rogue nations'' on American farm products is ``a dollar
 they cannot spend on terror and repression.''

 Earlier this year, an aide to Helms said the bill's ban on the use of U.S.
 government loans on the sale to Cuba ``protects U.S. national interests.''

 Besides allowing agricultural sales to President Fidel Castro's government, the
 legislation would strip President Clinton of his authority to impose bans on the
 sale of food and medicine in future sanction packages unless the United States
 was at war or threatened with war with the nation in question. The bill would also
 open food sales to other countries currently under U.S. trade sanctions, including
 North Korea and Libya.

 Last year, Clinton allowed U.S. farmers to sell their products on a case-by-case
 basis to individuals and private entities in Cuba, but not to the Cuban government.

 Because of Cuba's state-run economy, the administration's action failed to result
 in any sales.

 The new bill would require that Clinton issue a general license to farmers and U.S.
 agricultural producers that would allow sales to Cuban state-run companies like
 Alimport, which bought about $800 million in imported food products last year.
 The bill would also ease restrictions on medicine and medical equipment to Cuba
 and other nations under U.S. sanctions.

 Similar legislation was approved by the Senate on a 70-28 vote last summer.

 The legislation was blocked by House Republican leaders, however, at the urging
 of Cuban-American lawmakers Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana
 Ros-Lehtinen, Miami Republicans.

 The Senate is expected to approve the anti-sanctions measure again this year.

 But opposition to easing the trade ban on Cuba is expected to be stronger in the
 House, where Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., is the sponsor of a measure
 similar to Ashcroft's.

 In Miami, officials of the Cuban American National Foundation, which has lobbied
 on the issue for two years, were disappointed at the committee action but
 confident the issue wouldn't pass both the House and Senate, said Francisco
 Hernandez, foundation president.

 The foundation approves of selling food to nongovernmental organizations in Cuba,
 but not to the government, Hernandez said.

 ``We believe any dollar that we sell in food to the Castro government is going to
 be a dollar that is going to increase the control of Fidel Castro over the Cuban
 people,'' he said.

 Herald staff writer Marika Lynch contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald