Inside Politics

Trouble in Florida

Relations continue to sour between the Bush administration and Cuban-Americans in South Florida, who voted overwhelmingly for George W. Bush in 2000.

Yesterday, a group of Florida Republican state representatives were expected to send a letter to the White House warning of political repercussions unless the administration adopts a tougher Cuba policy, the Miami Herald reports.

The letter “echoes demands expressed recently by other Cuban-Americans: revise current migration policy; indict Fidel Castro for the Brothers to the Rescue shoot-down; ensure that TV Marti is seen by people in Cuba; and increased assistance to dissidents on the island,” Herald reporter Oscar Corral writes.

The letter, signed by 13 members of the state’s Republican Hispanic Caucus, said in part: “We feel it is our responsibility as elected officials to inform you that unless substantial progress on the above-mentioned issues occurs rapidly, we fear the historic and intense support from Cuban-American voters for Republican federal candidates, including yourself, will be jeopardized.”

Igniting anger among Cuban-Americans was the administration’s decision last month to repatriate 12 Cubans who had hijacked a boat to Florida. The Castro regime promised not to execute the hijackers and to limit sentences to 10 years.

Trouble in Florida II

Otto Reich, a top U.S. official for the Western Hemisphere, was dispatched to South Florida last week to try to tamp down growing anger among Cuban-Americans over the repatriation of 12 Cubans who hijacked a boat to reach American shores.

But Mr. Reich’s mission went awry when, in an interview on WSCV-Telemundo 51, he explained that Cubans need to be screened like other immigrants to avoid opening the United States to criminals and terrorists.

“What would Dade County do with a million more Cubans who don’t speak English, who haven’t been well-educated, that have lived under a totalitarian government where values don’t exist, moral or economic … ?” Mr. Reich asked.

The Miami Herald reports that interviewer Juan Manuel Cao, who like Mr. Reich was born in Cuba, appeared startled and asked, “Are we that bad?”

The Reich statements “became talk-show fodder and ruffled feathers here,” the Herald said.

Biden bows out

Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. yesterday ended speculation about his White House aspirations, saying he has decided not to seek the Democratic nomination for president.

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