WASHINGTON — With public and congressional support for the United States' 40-year economic isolation of Cuba steadily diminishing, embargo advocates are pushing a new line: that the island nation has become a dangerous "comfort station'' for terrorists.
After 43 years in power, Cuban President Fidel Castro has outlasted nine U.S. presidents, and looks set to survive the sanctions that were designed to oust him. One the eve of Castro's 76th birthday today and with growing pressure from big business wanting trade with Cuba, analysts say a change in U.S. policy may come before a change in Cuban leadership.
But embargo advocates in the Bush administration and Congress maintain that while the U.S. has been mobilizing a global war on terrorism, Castro has been providing shelter and possibly aid to Basque separatists, Irish Republican Army members, leftist Colombian guerrillas and perhaps Iranian agents and others.
They contend that in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. needs to hold a firm line against a country that could become a terrorist incubator like the one-time Taliban-run Afghanistan.
Opponents of the embargo scoff at these arguments. They note, for example, that not even the Bush administration claims any Cuban ties to Al Qaeda or other Islamic terrorist groups. These critics contend that the embargo's defenders are playing the "terrorist card'' in desperation because fewer Americans believe that Cuba should be cut off from American tourism and trade.
The allegations about Cuban involvement in terrorism are not about foreign policy but rather "about domestic politics,'' said Representative William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, and a leading embargo foe.
Cuba policy is important to President George W. Bush's political fortunes — and those of his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush — because of the influence of the staunchly anti-Castro Cuban American community in Florida.
In its most recent report on the subject, the U.S. State Department listed Cuba as one of seven "state sponsors'' of terrorism because of its role in offering sanctuary and support to insurgent groups.
The report said Castro's government has been treating 20 members of the Basque separatist group ETA, which is seeking independence from Spain, as "privileged guests'' and providing "some degree of safe haven and support'' to the two principal guerrilla groups in Colombia.
It said Niall Connolly, one of three IRA members facing trial in Colombia on charges of teaching bomb-making to the Colombian guerrillas, lived in Cuba for five years as the group's Latin American representative before being jailed.
Although Cuba has signed a U.N. anti-terrorism convention, Castro continues "to view terrorism as a legitimate revolutionary tactic,'' the report said.
In the administration's view, Havana has become a bustling terrorist way station even as U.S. military authorities have been locking up accused foreign terrorists at the American-run Guantanamo naval base on Cuba's southern end.
Some embargo supporters in Congress claimed Cuba was a transit point for Iranian terrorists who are alleged to have bombed a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994, killing at least 85 people. But the state department report makes no mention of that connection, or any other link to Islamic terrorists.
Cuban embassy officials in Washington did not return calls for comment. Cuba has denied supporting terrorist activities of the IRA, Colombian guerrillas or the Basque separatists. But Castro travelled through the Middle East after Sept. 11 and has been trying to cultivate relations with several countries that are on Washington's list of countries that sponsor terrorism, including Iran, Libya and Syria.
Administration officials say they believe that there are dozens of foreign terrorists in Cuba and that they receive special treatment from the government, making their lives more comfortable than those of ordinary Cubans. They suspect that these foreigners are collaborating with the Cuban government on intelligence matters.
Noting that Cuba had a network of terrorist training camps as recently as the 1980s, they say they suspect the foreigners may be receiving military and intelligence training as well.
But U.S. officials have not publicly argued that they have proof the groups have active terrorist camps in Cuba or are using a Cuban sanctuary as a base for activities elsewhere.
The new visibility of the issue comes as pressure builds for a change in the long-time U.S. policy on Cuba. As trade grows with such remaining Communist nations as China and Vietnam, and the aging Castro remains securely in power, a majority of Americans now think it is time for a change.
Reflecting the growing strength of a broad anti-embargo coalition, last month the House passed, by a 262-167 margin, language that would lift restrictions on travel to Cuba. If the Senate adopts similar language, as expected, and congressional conferees follow suit, Bush could face a tough choice between exercising the first veto of his term or accepting a major weakening of the embargo.
Last week, in a significant defection, retiring House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a Texas Republican, said he believes the United States should open trade with Cuba.
And critics of the embargo contend that the administration's case against Cuba is weak and more vague than those against other governments accused of sponsoring terrorism.
Philip Peters, a former state department official now at the Lexington Institute research and consulting organization, notes that in contrast with the six other countries it listed, the recent state department report did not accuse Cuba of involvement in any specific terrorist operations.
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