On easing the embargo: 'Can't do it right now'

  BY PETER WALLSTEN

  SPOKANE, Wash. - As he surges to the top of the race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination and begins to think about a potential contest against President Bush, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean says he is shifting his views on the trade embargo with Cuba.

  Speaking to reporters during a four-day national campaign swing, Dean said he supports rolling back the embargo in order to encourage human-rights advancements -- but citing Fidel Castro's recent crackdowns on dissidents, says that in recent months he has become convinced that ``we can't do it right now.''

  Dean called Cuba a ''political question,'' and said that recent developments on the island would prevent him from his goal of ``constructive engagement of Cuba.''

  ''If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have said we should begin to ease the embargo in return for human-rights concessions,'' he said, responding to a question from a Herald reporter at a dinner Sunday night in Seattle. ``But you can't do it now because Castro has just locked up a huge number of human-rights activists and put them in prison and [held] show trials. You can't reward that kind of behavior if what you want to do is link human-rights behavior with foreign trade.''

  Dean's comments marked the first foray into Cuba policy for a candidate who in recent days has ridden an unexpected wave of financial support and political momentum to lead the race for the Democratic nomination, and suggest that he is beginning to think about issues that will be key to competing in the general election next year for Florida's electoral votes.

  In recent weeks, some Cuban-American exile leaders have openly questioned their years-long loyalty to the Republican Party, accusing Bush of breaking campaign promises to ratchet up the pressure on Castro's government.

  POLITICAL ISSUE

  The reaction -- sparked by the repatriation last month of 12 suspected boat hijackers who were sent back after negotiations with the Cuban government to spare them from execution -- has turned into a potential political problem for Bush's reelection next year, and Democrats are already looking to exploit the situation.

  Bush's political advisors know that he needs strong Cuban-American support next year.

  In 2000, more than 80 percent of the state's 400,000 Cuban-American voters backed Bush, helping him win a narrow victory in Florida and put him in the White House.

  The Bush administration last week took two steps aimed at softening the criticism and adhering to demands of exile leaders: indicting the two Cuban pilots who shot down two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft in 1996, and announcing technology improvements to TV Marti.

  The trade embargo in recent years has divided the Republican Party, with Bush backing sanctions and many GOP leaders from industrial and farm states with their eyes on a new market pushing to eliminate the embargo.

  The major Democratic candidates for president have varying records on the embargo, with Florida Sen. Bob Graham and Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman two of its strongest supporters.

  REP. GEPHARDT

  Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, a critic of free trade in general, has backed the embargo as well, while Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards have spent months meeting with exile leaders to study the issue.

  Dean, whose home state is largely free of the immigration and trade issues that dominate South Florida politics, is a stranger to Cuban-American leaders and issues.

  `SENSITIVITY SEEN'

  ''I can't say I know him, but I appreciate his sensitivity to the issue,'' said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation and one of the harshest recent critics of Bush's Cuba policies. ``He's saying what any reasonable person would say.''

  ''Look, the road to the White House goes through South Florida, and anyone who's running for president is looking at the numbers,'' Garcia added.