BY TIM JOHNSON AND NANCY SAN MARTIN

WASHINGTON - Several high-level meetings at the White House since May and a presidential limousine ride through Miami streets in June led to the Justice Department's decision last week to indict three Cuban air force officers for the 1996 shoot-downs of two Brothers to the Rescue airplanes, according to political insiders familiar with the case.

The indictment, which had languished for years in government bureaucracy, was put on the fast track amid eroding political support in the Cuban-American community for President Bush and his 2004 reelection bid, the insiders added.

A major White House player in the decision was Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, who, according to one U.S. government official, met with Cuban-American legislators at least twice over the past three months to discuss the indictments and other get-tough actions on Cuba.

LIMOUSINE RIDE

On June 30, during a brief visit to Miami, President Bush invited two Republican congressmen, brothers Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, to ride with him in a limousine through Miami.

''We discussed a number of different issues,'' Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart said in a telephone interview.

"It was Lincoln, myself, [Florida Gov.] Jeb Bush and a national security guy.''

Díaz-Balart declined to confirm whether the indictments came up in the limousine conversation, saying only that ``the community had some grave concerns as to the inaction of the administration.''

'SOLELY' POLITICAL

Other political insiders, though, said that discontent in the Cuban-American community had caught the attention of the White House political team, led by political strategist Karl Rove, and a course of action was designed to win back support.

''The release of the indictment was solely and exclusively political,'' said a senior Capitol Hill staffer who follows U.S. policy on Cuba closely and favors increased pressures on the government there.

"It was the Karl Rove traditional strategy of putting out fires but not going too far to upset other constituencies.''

The staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that the federal indictment had languished in inter-agency wrangling for more than a year, but suddenly sped up with the high-level White House meetings that began in late May.

JAMMING

The indictment coincided with an administration announcement that Radio and TV Martí would begin satellite transmissions to overcome Cuban jamming of the U.S. government-operated stations.

Officials in the State, Defense and Justice departments declined to outline the inter-agency debate or the timing of the indictment's announcement.

''People worked very hard. It did take a long time, but that is the way decisions are made around here,'' said a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Díaz-Balart said he does not believe the indictment was accelerated for political reasons, arguing that only legal and bureaucratic reviews caused the delays.

He said the issue of indicting Cubans first arose at a luncheon in Miami in mid-2001 that he and several other prominent Cuban Americans offered for Attorney General John Ashcroft. That evening, the conservative Ashcroft also dined with leaders of the Cuban American National Foundation.

At both gatherings, Ashcroft listened intently to appeals for legal action, he said. ''I don't know why it took so long,'' Díaz-Balart added.

Frustration among Cuban-American activists has been building for months, testing the traditional loyalty that many exiles feel toward the Republican Party.

KEY STATE

The Bush administration repeatedly has said that a review of Cuba policy is under way, but no significant new measures have been unveiled.

In July, exile activists railed against the administration for repatriating 12 Cubans suspected of hijacking a boat to reach Florida.

Two weeks ago, 13 Republican state House members wrote to the White House suggesting that Cuban-American support was in danger for the 2004 elections. Florida, as the 2000 elections showed, is a key state in presidential elections, with about 400,000 Cuban-American voters.

Still unclear is whether federal prosecutors ever seriously considered charging Cuban President Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, commander of the armed forces, for ordering the MiG pilots to shoot down the two civilian aircraft in international waters off Cuba in 1996, killing four people.

The Castro brothers were left out of last week's indictment. Instead, a grand jury charged a Cuban air force general and two MiG pilots with murder, conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and destruction of aircraft.

While relatives of the four killed in the shoot-down welcomed the 11-page indictment, some exile leaders said it was not enough.

''I don't care about the ones below Castro,'' said José Basulto, lone survivor of the attack.

"The only one who was significant here, the one for whom an indictment would have an impact in Cuba, is Fidel Castro.''