Pope's steps producing D.C. echoes

President Clinton is eager to capitalize on the January visit and has asked envoys to troll opinion-makers in Miami, Washington and the Vatican for ideas on how to enhance the momentum for greater freedom in Cuba.

So far, Cuban exile groups, Roman Catholic leaders and politicians have united behind a call to find ways to strengthen the Cuban Catholic Church.

Beyond that, the recommendations vary amid a continuing tug of war between the leading exile lobby and the three Cuban-American lawmakers. And on Capitol Hill, lobbyists are promoting dueling proposals that would tweak the U.S. embargo or eviscerate it.

But a few changes appear increasingly certain. The President will probably accede to a request from U.S. bishops to renew direct flights from the United States to Cuba for humanitarian cargo. That move, they say, would greatly cut the cost of shipping medicines and other relief to the island.

And the administration is looking favorably on a still-evolving proposal by the Cuban American National Foundation and Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., to offer to send federal relief to the island. The plan now calls for making millions available each year to agencies like Catholic Relief Services to buy U.S. goods to be distributed in Cuba to individuals not tied with the government.
No security threat?

In a separate development that has not escaped the attention of anti-Castro hard-liners, the administration plans to certify that Cuba presents no security threat to the United States in a classified Pentagon report by month's end.

On a recent trip to Florida to survey tornado damage, Clinton told Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., that he hoped to find a way to expand the political space created by the Pope.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a two-day sweep of Miami to sound out exile leaders and others. As she made the rounds, her undersecretary, Stuart Eizenstat, called on people in Washington who play a role on Cuban issues.

``We heard what is apparent from the proposals already being made by members of Congress and Cuban-American organizations, that the mission now should be to help the Cuban people, not the government,'' said Albright spokesman Jamie Rubin.

Still, U.S. officials acknowledge some pressure to acknowledge Castro's more liberal treatment of the church, including the recognition of Christmas last year and unprecedented access for the Pope and his missionaries to the media and the public.

``If the opening is permanent, this would be a serious step,'' said Janice Jacobs, Cuba affairs deputy at the State Department. For the moment, however, U.S. policymakers are discussing only incremental change and will probably take their lead from Congress.

Modified aid plan

After running into a wall of opposition from the Cuban-American lawmakers, the foundation-Helms plan is being amended to avoid contradicting existing law. But the proponents are determined to see U.S. federal aid made available to the Cuban Catholic Church.

As the proposal now stands, as much as $50 million in U.S. economic support funds would be available each year for private organizations, presumably the Catholic Church, to ship medicine and food to the island -- probably aboard monthly direct flights.

The bill is aimed in part at short-circuiting the proposed Dodd-Torres legislation, which would simply eliminate restrictions on food and medicine sales. The foundation-Helms proposal may yet win over Cuban-American custodians of the embargo, including Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

But the Castro government so far has summarily rejected it.