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Arca Foundation Backed (Smith Bagley) U.S. Anti-Embargo Group Disbands Over Cuba Actions [Full Text] WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman and board of directors of a group that has pushed for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba announced their resignations on Wednesday to protest executions and jailings on the communist-run island. "The regime's sudden, wholesale repression of human rights is incomprehensible as a matter of policy, and unacceptable as a matter of principle," leaders of the nonprofit Cuba Policy Foundation said in a statement.

In the last month, Cuba has imprisoned 75 dissidents for terms of up to 28 years in a move to stamp out pro-democratic opposition to Cuban President Fidel Castro's one-party state. It shocked human rights organizations two weeks ago with the execution by firing squad of three men who hijacked a ferry in a bid to cross the Florida Straits to the United States.

The Cuba Policy Foundation has been a driving force behind recent efforts in Congress to lift the four-decade-old U.S. economic embargo. The group argued the embargo has failed in its objective of promoting democratic change in Cuba and has hurt sales opportunities for U.S. farmers and other exporters. Brian Alexander, former executive director of the foundation, said the disbanded group still believes the United States would benefit from increased economic ties with Cuba. "But we also feel that under Fidel Castro significant change in Cuba will be very hard to come by. I hate to use the phrase 'death watch,' but the man has made it clear that unilateral efforts by the United States at improving relations will be rebuffed and they will be rebuffed violently," he said.

The group's chairman, William Rogers, was a top State Department official for Latin American and economic affairs during the administration of former President Gerald Ford in the 1970s. Alexander said the group received its funding from a number of sources, including companies and individuals interested in seeing the embargo ended. The Cuba Policy Foundation will cease its daily operations, but remain in existence as a corporation, he said.[End]

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Sally Grooms Cowal's group.

D.C. foes of Cuba embargo quit group - Leaders criticize repression surge (Yeah, right!) ***Congressional leaders have acknowledged that recent developments in Cuba have hurt initiatives to ease the 4-decade-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. But the resignation of the Cuba Policy Foundation's board members stands out because of their prominence in U.S. policy circles

……………. Formed in 2001, the Cuba Policy Foundation lobbied lawmakers, encouraged them to visit Havana and held town hall debates on Cuba policy around the United States. TOP LEADERS At the forefront was Sally Grooms Cowal, a former deputy secretary of state for inter-American affairs under former President George Bush. Cowal is better known in Miami for arranging a place to house the father of Cuban boy Elián González during his stay in Washington.

Among the others heading the foundation: William Rogers, chair, former assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs under President Gerald Ford, who pushed for normalization of U.S.-Cuban relations in the 1970s; and Diego Asencio, former U.S. ambassador to Colombia and Brazil.***