BY TIM JOHNSON

 WASHINGTON -- President Bush sent the Senate on Thursday the long-awaited nomination of Otto Reich, a Cuban-born conservative, as his top diplomat to Latin America while the White House prepared to follow a Clinton administration policy long unpopular with many Cuban exiles.

 Congressional sources say Bush appears nearly certain to continue barring U.S. citizens from suing individuals or companies benefiting from property seized by Cuba
 following the 1959 revolution. That policy was followed by the Clinton administration, which Bush had generally criticized over its handling of Cuba.

 The president's decision must come by next Tuesday. In the interim, the White House is acting to reward Cuban-American voters for their significant support in the
 presidential election last fall.

 Today, the White House is expected to announce a series of measures to increase pressure on Cuba -- steps that may include stricter enforcement of the U.S. embargo and plans to overcome Cuban jamming of Radio and TV Martí.

 Other measures may include a White House statement of increased support for the internal opponents of President Fidel Castro of Cuba, congressional sources said
 Thursday.

 If the measures indeed are announced today, they would fall on the seventh anniversary of the 1994 sinking of a tugboat fleeing Cuba, in which 41 refugees died.

 In a one-sentence statement Thursday evening, the White House said that it had formally passed the nomination of Reich to the Senate, setting the stage for a tough
 confirmation battle that may evoke the Capitol Hill feuds in the 1980s over U.S. policy toward Central America.

 Reich, a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela and a Reagan White House figure, has become a lightning rod nominee -- portrayed by supporters as a competent
 professional with broad experience in the hemisphere and by critics as a hard-line ideologue nominated as payback to the Cuban exile community.

 Bush nominated Reich to become the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, effectively the top U.S. diplomat to the Americas, a post that requires Senate approval.

 "He's going to have a really rough time with confirmation, predicted William Goodfellow, executive director of the Center for International Policy, a liberal Washington, D.C., think tank that opposes Reich. ``I see a long and drawn-out process.

 The nomination was hailed by the Cuban American National Foundation, the lobbying concern that voices interests deeply felt by many in the Cuban exile community.

 ``This is clearly an important signal to people who care about democracy and human rights, not just in Cuba but in the hemisphere, said Dennis K. Hays, the foundation's executive vice president.

 As the top U.S. diplomat to the Americas, the 55-year-old Reich, if confirmed, would set the tone of relations with the region and help formulate policy on trade, narcotics, human rights and immigration. He would also deal with Cuba policy.

 Reich left Cuba at age 15 in 1960. His public career has been deeply entwined with issues related to fighting communism. He was marginally caught up in the Iran-contra scandal under President Reagan when the State Department office he headed from 1983 until 1986 was accused of engaging in secret propaganda activities to drum up support for Reagan's policies in war-torn Central America.

 Reich went on to become U.S. ambassador to Venezuela from 1986 to 1989, and served in the 1990s as a lobbyist for Bacardi, the rum company fighting Castro over confiscation of its properties following the 1959 revolution. He helped draw up the Helms-Burton law enacted in 1996 that strengthened sanctions against companies doing business with seized assets in Cuba.

 It is that law that now is coming back to pester President Bush, who is now likely to sidestep a provision of the law in response to pressure from European allies.

 The Helms-Burton law contains a section -- known as Title III -- that allows any U.S. citizen whose property was confiscated after the revolution to sue anyone of any nationality who benefits from the property or the seized assets. Clinton issued waivers of the provision for repeated six-month intervals, saying its suspension would encourage international assistance in nudging Cuba toward democracy.

 Bush promised to let the Cuban exile lawsuits go ahead, but he is now mired in disputes with key European allies over global warming and national missile defense,
 among other issues. Analysts say Bush hesitates to further pique allies by opening the door to a flood of lawsuits that may affect companies and citizens of their
 countries.

 ``It would just cause huge problems with allies such as the Canadians, the Europeans and the Mexicans, Goodfellow said. ``I think it would be political suicide.

                                    © 2001