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Reich vows to defend Cuba embargo

'Murderous regime' criticized in wide-ranging policy statement

BY TIM JOHNSON

WASHINGTON - The State Department's new point man for Latin America pledged Tuesday to stave off any attempt to relax a U.S. trade embargo that would throw ''a lifeline to a failed, corrupt, dictatorial, murderous regime'' in Cuba.

Using hard-charging language in his first speech since taking office in early January, Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Otto J. Reich warned of the ''extremely violent terrorist'' groups loose in Colombia, and noted that discontent with democracy is growing in some corners of Latin America.

Striking a new chord in U.S. policy toward the Americas, Reich said Washington views corruption as a major obstacle to progress, and has mounted an aggressive campaign to yank U.S. visas of corrupt officials.

While touching on a variety of regional issues, Reich, who was born in Cuba and fled the island for the United States shortly after the 1959 revolution, was most emphatic about retaining the U.S. embargo of Cuba.

''We're not going to help Fidel Castro stay in power by opening up our markets to Cuba,'' he said. ``We're not going to do it.''

Reich said the Bush administration goal is ''a free and democratic Cuba as rapidly and peacefully as possible.'' Relaxing trade restrictions and ''providing economic succor'' to the Castro government would only delay achieving the goal, he said.

''Cuban people are no different than other people in Latin America. They just want to be free,'' Reich said.

Reich said the Castro regime ''makes a mockery of freedom and imposes tyranny on its people.'' He noted that a broad review of U.S. policy toward Cuba is under way, and said the Bush administration wants to bolster ``the growing pro-freedom movement inside Cuba.''

Reich, who ran a consulting and lobbying firm with lucrative contracts with the Bacardi distillery and other companies prior to his appointment, rejected a suggestion that he may have a conflict of interest in dealing with U.S. policy toward Cuba.

THE CUBA ISSUE

''I am not recused from the Cuba issue,'' he said during a question-and-answer session following his speech, which was sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy research institute in Washington.

Reich said the Bush administration is determined to help Latin citizens fight graft.

''Corruption is the single biggest obstacle to economic development in the developing world,'' Reich said. ``The wealth of the people has been stolen by too many people in power. . . . I know I'm making a generalization, and I hope that people won't believe that I am accusing everyone of being corrupt, but the fact is that there is a lot of corruption in many countries of the region.''

REVOKED VISAS

U.S. consular officials have already revoked ''more than one'' visa, and will target other corrupt individuals when U.S. officials are ''100 percent sure that we have the facts,'' he said.

''They are not going to retire to Key Biscayne. They're not going to go to Disney World. And their spouses are not going to shop on Fifth Avenue,'' Reich said. ``And if they're sick, they're not going to go to Houston to have their hearts examined.''

Reich rejected a suggestion that U.S. policies may be partly to blame for the recent collapse of Argentina's economy.

''There are myriad reasons why Argentina is in the condition it's in,'' he said. ``It is because of mismanagement and a lot of corruption over many, many decades.''

Reich said President Bush has talked to ''at least 10 different heads of state in the region'' to help find a solution to Argentina's crisis.

He called Haiti ''the most vexing challenge in the hemisphere'' because of ``the cumulative effects of 200 years of bad leadership commanding a predatory state.''

The Bush administration supports efforts by the Organization of American States to find a way around a political impasse between President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his political opposition, and would like to ''mitigate humanitarian distress'' in the nation, he said.

On Colombia, Reich cited a ''solemn obligation'' to help the nation restore security and defend its democracy. He dismissed Colombia's outlaw armed bands on the left and right as criminal groups financed by narcotics trafficking.

''These are not insurgents. These are criminals. These are terrorists,'' he said.

Reich said the Bush administration will continue to push for a free-trade region across the hemisphere even though ``many citizens and some leaders are beginning to question the wisdom of the political and economic reforms on which they have embarked during the past 10 to 15 years.''

He identified root problems as ''poor governance and incomplete reforms'' rather than fundamental flaws in the free-market economic model. ''There are no credible alternatives on the horizon,'' he said.