By Madeline Baró Diaz
Miami Bureau

Despite tough talk by both countries, the United States and Cuba quietly maintain ties and cooperate with one another, a leading Cuba expert said Thursday.

Jorge Dominguez, director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, made the remarks Thursday during a gathering at Florida
International University. He said while President Bush and Cuban leader Fidel Castro maintain a show of "fierce hostility," the countries actually work together when
it comes to issues like migration, security and exports to Cuba.

"It is easier to engage in rhetoric if Castro's rhetoric is equally high and hostile," Dominguez said.

Dominguez said Bush has courted Cuban-American voters with promises of tightening U.S. policy toward the Communist island, but has continued to suspend the
provisions of the Helms-Burton Act that would allow lawsuits against firms in Cuba that are using property Castro's government seized after coming to power.

He has also failed to enforce a provision that prohibits executives of foreign firms doing business in Cuba from entering the United States, Dominguez said.

"Helms-Burton has been neutered," he said. "In all its practical and significant applications it is not enforced."

The fact Cuba can buy farm goods from the United States by paying cash puts U.S. farmers in an exclusive category, Dominguez said. Also, the allowance of
remittances by Cuban-Americans to the island inject an estimated $1 billion into the Cuban economy annually, he said.

Dominguez cited other examples of the countries' quiet ties, including cooperation by U.S. and Cuban military forces near the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo and
the migration accords between both countries that allow the United States to return Cubans intercepted at sea.

Bush's tough stance on Cuba, Dominguez said, allows him to win over traditionally Republican Cuban-Americans who might otherwise sit out the upcoming
presidential election, which could be detrimental considering the crucial role Florida played in the 2000 election.

"Every vote here counts, and every campaign penny here counts," Dominguez said.

Damian Fernandez, director of the Cuban Research Center at FIU, said Dominguez is "deconstructing the facade" of hostile relations between the United States and
Cuba.

"He's shedding light on some things that have been concealed," he said.

Not everyone agrees. Republican U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart issued a statement Thursday disputing Dominguez's take on U.S.-Cuba relations. He said Bush has
expelled Cuban spies, indicted Cuban officials, and threatened to veto attempts to weaken the embargo and travel restrictions.

Diaz-Balart suggested Dominguez's remarks were tied to Democratic efforts to undermine the president's re-election campaign.

"Dominguez's remarks are a clearly calculated political maneuver to weaken Cuban-American support for President Bush," Diaz-Balart said in the statement.

Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.

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