Increasing Cuba broadcasts a top U.S. priority

Posted on Thu, Aug. 03, 2006

WASHINGTON
Increasing Cuba broadcasts a top U.S. priority

The Bush administration is accelerating post-Castro planning and looking
for ways to broadcast information into Cuba.
BY OSCAR CORRAL AND PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON - Lacking hard facts about what is happening in Cuba after
Fidel Castro ceded power, the Bush administration has accelerated its
planning for a Cuban transition and is exploring new ways to broadcast
information to the island.

''We don't know what the exact situation is with respect to Castro's
health and the political situation,'' a senior government official said.
``But the mandate from the president is for us to stay focused on
helping the Cuban people transition to democracy. That's where the
wheels of government . . . are in motion.''

Even before Monday's announcement, the Bush administration had
established a Cuba Transition Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC),
co-chaired by Caleb McCarry, the State Department's Cuba transition
coordinator, and Daniel Fisk, the National Security Council's Western
Hemisphere director.

''There is an interagency process focused on Cuba transition that is
underway and that has been in existence before Monday,'' said the
official, who requested anonymity because of government rules. ``We've
clearly picked up the pace.''

MORE RADIO MARTI

Officials are also looking at ways to get Radio and TV Martí broadcasts
into Cuba quickly but were cautious on committing to using a Department
of Defense aircraft because of logistical reasons.

The additional broadcasting hours was one of the key requests by a group
of Cuban-American lawmakers who met Wednesday morning with National
Security Council and State Department officials at the White House to
discuss Cuba.

At the moment, a U.S. military C-130 aircraft beams the stations'
programs to Cuba for only four hours on Saturday evenings.

'We want to put the emphasis on `let's get the message there the best
way,' not say 'it has got to be this mechanism or that one,' '' the
official said.

The Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba recommended using
third-country broadcasts to Cuba, which is surrounded by nations whose
signals can be picked up on the island.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Sen. Mel Martinez, a
Florida Republican, urged the administration to make an aircraft
available on an interim basis. ''In light of recent developments on the
island, the importance of communicating directly with the people of Cuba
is critical,'' the senator said.

The Department of Defense has not yet said whether it would make the
craft available.

Radio and TV Martí are expected to get their own aircraft, but those
broadcasts won't start until the end of August, at the earliest,
according to people familiar with the stations' operations.

Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she was confident the
White House understood the urgency of the additional airborne
broadcasting hours, given the volatile political situation in Cuba.

WARNING TO MILITARY

She told The Miami Herald after the White House meeting that the
broadcasts should send a message of ''hope to the Cuban people'' and a
message to the Cuban armed forces ``not to shoot their [civilian]
brothers and sisters.''

Miami Republican Reps. Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart also attended the
meeting. On the Senate side, Florida Sens. Martinez and Bill Nelson, a
Democrat, were joined by New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez.

Cuba, arguing that Radio and TV Martí broadcasts are illegal, regularly
tries to jam the stations' broadcasts. Jamming an airborne signal is
more difficult and more expensive, experts say.

Roger Noriega, the former assistant secretary of state for the Western
Hemisphere, said many months ago the State Department had begun drawing
up a ''ticktock on what we do, hour one, day one, and week one'' from
the moment Fidel Castro retired from power.

''One of the key things that we identified as a challenge is to
communicate with the security forces about their accountability for any
violence,'' he said.

Miami Herald staff writer Lesley Clark contributed to this report.

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