By JUAN O. TAMAYO
 Herald Staff Writer

 WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration's Cuba-watching team is undergoing
 an unusually large changing of the guard this summer, with nine key officials
 rotating in both Havana and Washington.

 Among the jobs affected are three top slots at the U.S. diplomatic mission in
 Cuba plus three senior assignments at the State Department and the National
 Security Council.

 U.S. officials say the changes are routine personnel rotations and will not
 undermine U.S. diplomacy on Cuba. Three of the envoys going to Havana have a
 total of eight years' experience in Cuban affairs.

 ``We're in good shape, given the extensive experience of some of our people, said
 Vicki Huddleston, who will become head of the U.S. Interests Section, the
 diplomatic mission in Havana.

 But other officials conceded they would have preferred to avoid such a large
 turnover at a time when Cuba's Communist regime appears to be sailing through
 some unusually rough economic and political waters.

 ``It's an unfortunate coincidence, said one Cuba watcher, noting that State
 Department overseas assignments are usually for two to three years. ``But it's a
 lot of change at a difficult time.

 The latest change came Friday, when Michael Ranneberger wound up four years
 as director of the State Department's Office of Cuban Affairs in Washington. He
 has been nominated as ambassador to Mali.

 Ranneberger will be replaced by Charles S. Shapiro, a former deputy chief of
 mission at the U.S. Embassy in Chile who spent the last year at a special State
 Department seminar for senior diplomats.

 Shapiro, who served previously in El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago, has
 already spent several weeks in Ranneberger's office getting acquainted with its
 workings and studying the complexities of U.S. policy on Cuba.

 Wide responsibilities

 Two other jobs changing hands are posts at the State Department and National
 Security Council that have policy-level responsibilities not just for Cuba but for all
 Latin America.

 John Hamilton, deputy assistant secretary of state for Western hemispheric
 affairs, is becoming ambassador to Peru. He will be replaced by Bill Brownfield,
 now with the State Department's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
 Bureau, according to knowledgeable officials.

 And Arturo Valenzuela, a Chilean-born academic who specializes in Latin
 American democratization issues, became head of the NSC's hemispheric
 section last month, replacing James Dobbins.

 NSC chief Sandy Berger, who advises President Clinton on foreign policy, has
 long pushed for improving relations with Cuban President Fidel Castro far beyond
 the bounds advocated by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

 Tops posts in Havana

 Three other jobs changing hands this summer are top posts in Havana for
 diplomats who meet with Cuban officials and private citizens and report to
 Washington on political and economic developments.

 Huddleston spent four years as chief and deputy chief of the Office of Cuban
 Affairs and more recently served as ambassador to Madagascar and deputy
 assistant secretary of state for Africa.

 She replaces Michael Kozak, who is completing a three-year posting in Havana,
 normally a two-year assignment and considered a hardship posting because of
 the enmity between the United States and Cuba. He is expected to get a senior
 post in Washington.

 Jeffrey DeLaurentis, executive assistant to assistant secretary of state Pete
 Romero, will go to Havana as the top political and economic officer, reporting on
 internal developments.

 DeLaurentis, who served two years in the early 1990s in the Interests Section's
 consular office, will replace Gary Maybarduk, who was transferred to the U.S.
 Embassy in Venezuela.

 Victor Vockerodt just finished two years at the Office of Cuban Affairs, handling
 relations with exile groups that support dissidents, and moved to Havana to
 become political officer in charge of reporting on Cuban human rights abuses.

 He replaces Tim Brown, whose job often brought him into confrontation with
 government security agents. Brown's predecessor, Robin Meyer, was expelled by
 Cuban authorities in 1995.

 Cuban Interests Section

 ``These changes affect just about the entire reporting side of the Interests
 Section, the people who are in daily contact with Cubans and write the cables to
 Washington, said one member of the U.S. Cuba-watching team.

 Ron Kramer, the principal consular officer in Havana, also transferred last month
 to Mexico. And Doug Barnes, head of the U.S. Information Agency, will be
 replaced by Janet Edmonson, who arrives from Myamar, the former Burma.

 Also changing hands this summer in Havana will be two lower-ranking political
 posts and one of the security jobs, monitoring the security of the building,
 diplomats and their homes.

 Washington has the largest foreign mission in Havana, with some 20 U.S. officers
 and secretaries in the Interests Section plus a large number of Americans in the
 busy consular section and a small U.S. Marines guard detail.

 Staying in their jobs for at least another year will be the deputy chiefs of the
 Interest Section and the Office of Cuban Affairs, John Boardman in Havana and
 Bob Witajewski in Washington.

 ``It's a lot of change, but that's the State Department for you, said one U.S.
 official. ``The rotations are to keep people fresh, but sometimes you get a whole
 fresh new group coming in. It happens.