GOP ex-congressman, business leaders, former Texas governor on panel

By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan advisory group, including a former Republican congressman, business leaders and influential Cuban-Americans, issued a report
Thursday that renewed calls for the Bush administration to break with what they called 41 years of a failed policy.

The conclusions of the 16-page report, "U.S.-Cuba Relations, Time for a New Approach," aren't unique. But the makeup of the commission and the people
articulating the message of normalizing ties with Cuba are new.

The commission's members include Peter Magowan, president and managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants; former Texas Gov. Ann Richards; Carlos
Saladrigas, chairman of Premier American Bank in Miami; Thomas Wenski, auxiliary bishop at the Archdiocese of Miami; and William Frenzel, who served in the
U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1991.

"Despite the diverse perspectives of our members, we agree that the time is ripe for engagement, not isolation, and that should become the core of U.S. policy
toward Cuba," said former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico James R. Jones. "Our national interest and security require we begin a dialogue with Cuba."

Mr. Jones chaired the Cuba Policy Advisory Group under the auspices of the Center for National Policy in Washington.

The report, which calls on the Bush administration, the Cuban government and Congress to begin a "negotiated normalization" process, sets the tone for what's
expected to be another showdown this year with the Bush administration over Cuba policy.

It comes amid a growing sentiment that the days of the decades-old policy are numbered. Miami's Cubans, who once dominated the anti-Castro debate, are no
longer as uniformly hard-line as they once were. Many now speak in favor of normalization, joining farmers from the Midwest and policy leaders from the Northeast.

President Bush has vowed to veto any move aimed at easing the embargo. He has said a substantial softening of U.S. policy would come only after the communist
government of President Fidel Castro is out of power.

Among the recommendations from the report are a moratorium on harsh, negative rhetoric and removal of the current limit on remittances that can be sent legally to
people in Cuba.

The report also calls for a streamlining of bureaucratic regulations to make it easier for Americans to sell food, medicine and medical products to Cuba and to
expand the types of products that may be sold.