WASHINGTON — In a disappointment to some Cuban American activists, the White House has decided after weeks of deliberation that it will not take additional steps to punish Fidel Castro for cracking down on pro-democracy dissidents, officials said Tuesday.
U.S. officials had signaled that President Bush and top aides were likely to announce a toughening of U.S. policy on Tuesday, the 101st anniversary of Cuba's independence from Spain. Instead, Bush met with a group of Cuban dissidents in the Oval Office to voice his support for pro-democracy efforts, but he unveiled no policy change.
Dictatorships, Bush said in brief remarks, "have no place in the Americas." He said his hope "is for the Cuban people to soon enjoy the same freedoms and rights as we do."
A senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity, said the administration continues to consider changes, but "we cannot meet people's expectation of a certain timetable. We have our own timetable."
Some anti-Castro Cuban Americans said they feared Bush is losing an important opportunity to increase pressure on the Castro regime.
Although "the president is our ally ... we don't expect just words, but action," said Ninoska Perez, director of the Cuban Liberty Council, a strongly anti-Castro group based in Miami.
She said that among Cuban Americans in Florida, "I'm hearing disappointment, for the first time ever."
Pressure has been building on Bush to take tougher action since March, when Castro's government arrested 78 pro-democracy dissidents and sentenced them to prison terms of up to 28 years.
The administration has strongly condemned the actions and last week expelled 14 Cuban diplomats based in the United States for "inappropriate and unacceptable activities" -- diplomatic code for spying.
The Cuban Liberty Council and other Cuban American activists had been urging the administration to build pressure on Castro by further restricting both the travel of Cuban Americans to the island and the remittances they send to relatives there. Advocates said that the remittances and travel are a major source of revenue for the regime.
But because many Cuban Americans in Florida rely on travel and remittances to help relatives in Cuba, such steps could divide the community and cost Bush reelection votes in a key state, experts said.
