Bush Is Retreating From Renomination of Cuba Hard-Liner

Faced with resistance from key Senate Republicans, President Bush is backing away from renominating Otto J. Reich, symbol of the administration’s hard-line stance toward Cuba, as his top diplomat for Latin America, Reich’s allies have confirmed.

For two years, Bush has stood by the outspoken Cuban American despite fierce opposition from Democrats who said Reich was unqualified for his job and tainted by his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. But the prospect of a bruising confirmation battle in a Senate under Republican control has forced the president to consider naming him to a senior White House position that does not require Senate approval, Reich’s allies said.

“The political reality is that the renomination process is not going to be an easy one,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), a key Reich supporter and a leading advocate for the Cuban American community. “President Bush understands that fully, as does Otto.”

Reich’s political supporters have been in “intense negotiations” with the White House regarding his future, Ros-Lehtinen said, and predicted the issue would be settled soon.

The decision to abandon the fight may signal a more pragmatic approach to Cuba at a time when powerful Republican-led farm-state interests are pushing for a further easing of the 40-year-old embargo on trade with the island, some experts contend.

Reich has been a forceful advocate for maintaining economic and political pressure on Cuba, and limiting contacts between Cubans and Americans. Under his stewardship, the United States has reduced both the number of Cubans who can come here for cultural contacts, as well as the number of private U.S. groups entitled to visit Cuba.

At the very least, it signals that the deepening split within the GOP over how to treat the hemisphere’s last communist regime is forcing the administration to adjust its approach.

The move could expose Bush to some political risk in Florida with his Cuban American supporters, especially if Reich is not given another high-profile post. Cuban Americans were a key constituency for Bush in Florida in 2000 and for his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, in his reelection campaign this year.

Bush named Reich assistant secretary of State for Latin America last year through a special appointment procedure called a “recess appointment” after Senate Democrats blocked a confirmation vote.

The diplomat, who first became widely known during the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, was forced by law to give up the assistant secretary post when Congress adjourned Nov. 22. He has since been serving as a special State Department envoy to the region.

The White House had hoped that Reich would have a better shot at confirmation with a Republican-controlled Senate. But Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said he would prefer another candidate. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has also argued privately that the administration would be better off avoiding a polarized nomination fight, according to people close to the issue.

Some supporters complained that the State Department has treated Reich shabbily. They pointed out that he was abruptly moved to the envoy post Nov. 22, although he had been told some time before that he would be named envoy when the recess appointment lapsed. When Reich returned from an official trip to Brazil, he found that his nameplate and picture had been taken down from a State Department wall, and his office had been moved from the sixth to the first floor, friends said.

Reich’s supporters also complained that he has been kept out of the public eye in recent weeks, and was notably left behind when Powell recently visited Mexico and Colombia.

State Department officials said the department moved hastily to change Reich’s job only because of the requirements of the law.

They maintained that he cannot perform the duties of assistant secretary, lest he violate the law -- and draw criticism from opponents in Congress and elsewhere.

Reich had strong advocates in the Senate during the last term, including Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.).

But even though the GOP won a majority in the Senate in the Nov. 5 election, Reich’s support was damaged as Helms and Torricelli announced their retirements and Lugar moved in line to take over the foreign relations post.

Two other Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sens. Charles Hagel of Nebraska and Mike Enzi of Wyoming, are considered likely to vote against Reich.

Reich has provoked controversy as assistant secretary of State.

Critics have contended that he has spent too much time focused on Cuba and not enough on other Latin American nations, even as Latin America’s economy has headed into a tailspin.

Lugar believes Reich has not been “vigorous” enough in the job and also does not have the strong bipartisan support he should to do the job properly, a spokesman said.

Reich became well-known during the Iran-Contra scandal because of his leadership of the Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean. The office came under criticism for a campaign to promote the Reagan administration’s support of the Nicaraguan contras against their government.

But supporters contended that Reich has been an effective advocate for Bush’s views. They noted that Bush has steadfastly supported Reich.

Ros-Lehtinen and other allies hope Bush will make Reich a senior White House envoy to Latin America. Reich could still be influential, Ros-Lehtinen argued, because he would have access to Bush and the leverage he would need to continue directing a vigorous policy on Cuba. She insisted that a decision not to renominate Reich would not represent a withdrawal of support from him personally or his hard-line policies.