National security advisor Condoleezza Rice emphasizes to Cuban-American lawmakers that President Bush won't back down on his views.

BY OSCAR CORRAL

National security advisor Condoleezza Rice has written South Florida Republican legislators to stress that President Bush is committed to the economic embargo against Cuba and bringing democracy to the island.

Her letter underscores the importance in the next presidential election of the Cuban-American electorate, a voting block considered necessary by the GOP to win in Florida, which is expected to be a key state.

Rice, writing to State Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, was responding to a letter that GOP state legislators had sent Bush in August asking him to get tougher on Cuba or risk losing the political support of Cuban Americans.

''As long as Fidel Castro denies the political and economic rights of the Cuban people, there is work to be done,'' Rice wrote in a letter dated Sept. 3. ``Our efforts are manifest in our accomplishments.''

Political observers say the letter -- which highlighted nine steps the Bush administration has already taken to help bring about a free Cuba -- is a clear signal that Bush needs Florida, particularly the exile vote, in the 2004 election.

However, exile leaders and some legislators who helped author the August letter to Bush say the administration's response does not go far enough to appease a frustrated Cuban-American constituency in Miami-Dade.

''More needs to be done on the issue,'' Rivera said in an interview Tuesday. ``What is important now as we approach the election is the need to be able to distinguish President Bush's record from past and future Democratic presidential nominees.''

State Rep. Manny Prieguez, R-Miami, said he expects more action on Cuba from the White House, like revisiting the migration policy that now mandates the return to Cuba of migrants stopped at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard while fleeing the island.

`Grain of salt'

''I take her letter with a grain of salt,'' Prieguez said. ``There is an implicit understanding that we are expecting a heck of a lot more than what's in that letter.''

In August, Republican state legislators asked Bush to revise U.S.-Cuba immigration policy; indict Fidel Castro for murder; beef up TV Martí, and increase aid to dissidents on the island. Since then, the U.S. government has announced the indictments of three principal players in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot-down. Cuban President Fidel Castro was not indicted.

''These indictments send a clear message to the Cuban military and other elements of the repressive regime that there are consequences for murdering innocent civilians,'' Rice wrote.

Last month, the Bush administration also announced plans to broadcast TV Martí by satellite to make the U.S.-funded broadcasts more accessible to Cuban viewers and less susceptible to Cuban government jamming.

Rice said this was done with the intention of ``breaking down the information blockade on the Cuban people.''

Other measures that Rice said the administration has taken to get tough on Cuba are:

• Funneling assistance to the families of Cuban political prisoners to help insulate them from retaliation by the regime;

• Encouraging the formation of a multilateral coalition for change and against repression in Cuba;

• Shutting down spy rings in the United States;

''The arrest and imprisonment of members of the opposition and civil society earned the condemnation of the international community,'' Rice wrote.

White House Spokesman Taylor Gross said the president remains ``firmly dedicated to a pro-active Cuba policy.''

Washington-based pollster Rob Schroth said it's not unusual for the ''highest levels'' of the White House to respond when a key constituency is threatened.

Florida's key role

Miami political observer and pollster Sergio Bendixen, who works closely with the Democratic party, said Bush is making sure he keeps Cuban American voters on his side in 2004.

''It would be close to impossible for President Bush to carry Florida if he does not get the 80 or 85 percent level of support he received in 2000 from Cuban American voters,'' Bendixen said. Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said the letter offers him little to cheer about.

''There's nothing there. There's more rhetoric,'' Garcia said. ``It's propaganda and positioning more than action and initiatives.''