MIAMI -- NBC-6 has learned that early in September the Bush administration will announce that the signal for TV-Marti will be beamed into Cuba via satellite.

The satellite delivery system announcement is an attempt to answer harsh criticism by Cuban exile power brokers and politicos that TV-Marti is a failure. They charge the U.S. Government has been unable to figure out how to penetrate the Castro government's electronic jamming of TV-Marti's over-the-air signal.

For years the local exiles were staunch supporters of the U.S. government operated TV station, which broadcasts from an Aerostat balloon, anchored just north of Key West. This despite constant congressional criticism that the operation was a waste of taxpayer's money because no one in Cuba could see the broadcasts.

In recent weeks Republican Cuban-American politicians and exile leaders have pounded the Bush administration for what is considered a weak position on Cuba. Cuban-American movers and shakers feel they are responsible for putting President George W. Bush in the White House by making the vote difference in the 2000 election in Florida. The threat: influential Cuban-American leaders will think hard about whether or not they will support Bush in the next Presidential election.

Four demands have emerged from the frustrated exiles. They demands are: increase support for the dissidents on the island, indict Fidel Castro for ordering the 1996 shoot down of the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes, modify the "wet foot/dry foot" immigration policy, and boost the TV-Marti signal.

Word from Washington and Miami indicates that there is little administration appetite to tinker with the immigration policy... indicting Fidel Castro is viewed as rife with problems.

There are those with the view that Havana-U.S. Interest Section Chief James Cason is doing a pretty good job of supporting the island dissidents. Other than a little more money, not much needs to be done.

On May 20, a U.S. military C-130 equipped with a radio transmitter and possibly a television transmitter flew a pattern off the Cuban coast. Reports are that the signals carrying a message from President Bush were heard load and clear on the Island. Exiles would love to have the flights continue but NBC 6 has been told the cost prohibits a prolonged effort.

So the bone that will be tossed to the Cuban exiles is the satellite scheme to get the TV-Marti into the island.

The problem is there are not that many individually owned satellite dishes in Cuba. And not many Cubans have the financial ability to purchase black market dishes. An additional hurdle is that the dishes can easily be spotted and confiscated. The satellite project is patchwork at best.

In addition, one must remember recent stories concerning allegations that the Cuban government cooperating with the government of Iran was jamming U.S. satellite signals. Those signals carry programming urging a governmental change in Iraq. It is well known that Cuba does have the technology to jam satellites.

Could the TV-Marti satellite project end in another failure?

Cuban American politicians and leaders that are in the know are at best disappointed and at worst bitter. They want a bigger commitment from Washington but, at this writing, they do not think there is much more in the administration's gas tank when it comes to Cuba.

---

Hank Tester often reports on the Cuban exile community. Besides his daily reports on NBC 6, he is heard on WFFG Keys Talk Radio.