He meets with dissidents as radio message voices support

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Bush declared that "dictatorships have no place in the Americas" in a brief radio address to Cubans on Tuesday, the 101st anniversary
of the Cuban republic's founding.

He also met privately with a small group of dissidents and former political prisoners of the Fidel Castro regime.

But the White House had nothing to announce in terms of possible new measures against Cuba, disappointing some Cuban-American groups that had been pressing
for steps ranging from more economic pressure to legislation advocating "regime change" in Cuba.

"I think the administration is always reviewing what the best policy is around the world, and that would include the best policies toward Cuba," said White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer.

U.S. officials noted that just last week, the administration had expelled 14 Cuban diplomats it accused of engaging in "inappropriate and unacceptable activities."

Mr. Bush's 40-second message to Cubans was aired Tuesday morning by Radio Marti, the U.S. government station whose signals are beamed to the communist
island.

"My hope is for the Cuban people to soon enjoy the same freedoms and rights as we do," he said. "Dictatorships have no place in the Americas. May God bless the
Cuban people, who are struggling for freedom."

Mr. Bush also met with 11 Miami-based Cuban dissidents and former prisoners.

Afterward, Ana Lazara Rodriguez, a doctor who spent 19 years in prison, said: "What is important is not that I have spent so many years in a political prison, that
we have been beaten, confined. ... But what is important is that those things continue happening in Cuba.

"We have to stop that," she said.

Mel Martinez, the Cuban-born secretary of Housing and Urban Development, accompanied the group to the meeting.

"The president expressed his support for the plight of the Cuban people – the outrage at the violation of human rights that is taking place in Cuba today and for many
years and his hope for a better life for the Cuban people," he said.