Republican VIPs urge review of Cuba policy

             By FRANK DAVIES
             Herald Staff Writer

             WASHINGTON -- A powerful group of former Republican officials, including
             Henry Kissinger and Lawrence Eagleburger, joined John Warner, a GOP senator
             from Virginia, in calling Tuesday for a bipartisan commission to reexamine U.S.
             policy toward Cuba.

             The group did not call for ending the U.S. embargo on Cuba, but said such trade
             barriers, and the domestic and international impact of the embargo, should be
             reviewed by an independent panel authorized by President Clinton.

             Along with the two former secretaries of state, Kissinger and Eagleburger, the
             group included former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, ex-Secretary of
             Defense Frank Carlucci, and former Sen. Malcolm Wallop, a Wyoming
             Republican.

             Defenders of the embargo, including the three Cuban-American representatives in
             Congress, blasted the idea as transparent corporate lobbying -- ex-officials who
             now represent business clients who want to do business in Cuba.

             ``These are former officials who seek personal profit in the attempt to perpetuate a
             system [in Cuba] that permits no human rights or labor rights,'' said Rep. Lincoln
             Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican. He joined Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, another
             Miami Republican, and Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, in urging Clinton
             to reject the idea.

             As an example, the three representatives singled out Wallop, who has lobbied for
             a Canadian mining company, Sherrit, which operates a nickel mine in Cuba.
             Sherrit has been cited by the State Department for violating the Helms-Burton Act
             for using confiscated U.S. property in Cuba.

             The White House late Tuesday had no reaction to Warner's proposal -- because
             the Virginia senator had not yet sent it.

             Seeking support

             Warner on Tuesday was still seeking support from Senate colleagues for naming a
             bipartisan commission. A Warner spokesman gave The Herald a copy of the letter
             that will be sent.

             Citing Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba and a Pentagon study in May that
             downgraded the Castro government as a security threat, Warner wrote that
             ``more and more Americans are becoming concerned about the far-reaching
             effects of U.S.-Cuba policy on U.S. interests and the Cuban people.''

             Warner, the second-ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, called
             unsuccessfully earlier this year for easing restrictions on the sale of food and
             medicine to Cuba.

             Warner suggested a bipartisan commission modeled on the Kissinger Commission
             appointed by President Reagan in 1983 to study U.S. policy in Central America.

             ``We recommend this action because there has not been a comprehensive review
             of U.S.-Cuba policy, or a measurement of its effectiveness in achieving its stated
             goals, in over 38 years,'' Warner wrote.

             The commission would ``conduct a thoughtful, rational and objective analysis of
             our current policy toward Cuba and its overall effect on this hemisphere,'' he
             added.

             Trade barriers' critics

             Kissinger, Eagleburger and other former officials have criticized the overall use and
             effectiveness of trade barriers against China and other nations. Kissinger, in turn,
             has been criticized for representing corporate clients doing business in China.

             The three Cuban-American representatives, along with the Cuban American
             National Foundation, said that Warner's premise is faulty and that U.S.-Cuba
             policy was thoroughly reviewed during the debate over Helms-Burton, which
             tightened trade restrictions on Cuba.

             ``There's strong bipartisan support in Congress and the White House for the
             embargo, and to suggest otherwise is just bizarre,'' said Jose Cardenas, the
             Washington representative of the foundation. ``This sort of [proposal] is just not
             going to happen.''