By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Herald Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- The Cuban government has ousted a key U.S. human rights officer in Havana, and the Clinton administration retaliated Monday by ordering the hasty departure of a Cuban diplomat from the United States.
The tit-for-tat exchange highlights growing irritation between the countries as the United States tries to muster an international campaign to promote human rights and free markets in Cuba, and Havana denounces foreign meddling.
But the diplomatic tiff was muted somewhat by the administration's decision to revoke the visa of a Cuban official who had already planned to move back to Havana within a few weeks. Jose Luis Ponce, the high-profile spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section, was given one week to leave.
Robin Meyer, a foreign service officer who has served as an important link to the island's dissident community, will be compelled to leave Cuba on Wednesday because her yearly visa has been revoked, U.S. officials said Monday.
``The Cuban government has decided not to renew the visa of Robin Meyer, the human rights officer at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, alleging `activities not compatible with her diplomatic status,' '' the State Department said Monday.
U.S. officials said explicitly that Havana had not charged Meyer with spying and underscored that she was not being formally expelled. The officials said they reciprocated against Ponce because he represented Havana's outreach to American opinion-makers; his planned departure did not enter into their considerations, they said.
U.S. officials said the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro had grown increasingly distressed by Meyer's extensive contacts among the island's human rights advocates and independent groups of journalists, academics and economists.
``This decision by the Cuban government clearly shows its absolute refusal to acknowledge its own internal opposition and its firm intent to deny those individuals contact with outside sources of information,'' the State Department said.
It's ``an extremely negative'' decision, Ponce told the Spanish news agency EFE after learning of his expulsion. ``We have to try to improve relations between both countries.''
Clinton administration officials acknowledged that the U.S. staff of about 40 in Havana would miss Meyer's expertise.
Alarcon's salvo came days after Castro himself alleged that employees of the U.S. Interests Section were organizing and providing material support to dissidents. In February, the government arrested nearly 200 supporters of Concilio Cubano and barred their first meeting.
``What these people were doing was intolerable,'' Castro said of the U.S. diplomats. ``They were giving money and paying the bills for dissidents. They were visiting the provinces and promoting opposition to the government under the pretext of checking on rafters returned from the United States.''
As the mission's human rights officer, Meyer became a font of information on cases of government harassment and politically motivated arrests or jailings. She met occasionally with visiting U.S. lawmakers, academics and journalists, providing updates on those Cubans who had simply fallen from view.
On Monday, the administration vowed to continue that effort.
``The U.S. government is committed to maintaining its outreach to those courageous individuals working to defend universally recognized human rights and to promote a peaceful transition in Cuba,'' the State Department said.
© 1996 The Miami Herald.