Miami ? What should Latin America and the Caribbean expect from the United States in round two of the Bush administration?

A whole lot more than they received in round one — and, yes, I’m taking into consideration the overwhelming, agenda-changing developments of Sept. 11, 2001.

However, now that the United States has begun tackling the terrorism challenge — not in terms of decisively winning, an impossibility, but in the sense of pursuing the war aggressively — opportunity and need beckon, with Latin America and the Caribbean high on the list.

I would start with a fresh-eyed policy, looking to the long term instead of responding to troubles and challenges as they bubble up. I’ll outline some of the necessary priorities below and will return to the subject in other columns next year.

The Bush administration should pay particular attention to two countries that have disproportionately affected the United States: Cuba and Haiti.

There is a better-than-average chance that the lengthy despotic rule of Cuban President Fidel Castro will end during President George W. Bush’s second term. That possibility places a special obligation on the White House to develop a comprehensive, flexible strategy to deal with the aftermath.

Beyond the chaos of the initial days, in which Castro’s lieutenants will struggle to perpetuate his power monopoly, I have little doubt that communist structures will crumble, as they have in other places where people have smelled and reached for freedom. The United States should stand ready to assist and hasten the transition, not simply react and scramble for ideas.

In Haiti, an unstable and deadly environment continues to defy a United Nations stabilization mission. Although the U.N. effort contributes more than nothing, it hardly offers the best fix for Haiti — unless Americans wish for more crises and interventions in the future.

About a year ago, I outlined a solution for Haiti’s problems that has drawn several echoes in recent months: a generation-long, vision-guided, multilateral, nation-building enterprise to arrest the country’s failure as a state. The international community should take over and temporarily suspend Haiti’s sovereignty. It would require about 20 years to filter the political, social and economic ills from the system; instill a real understanding of democracy among Haitians; and otherwise create a setting for normalcy and stability.

The United States should play at least a supporting role in that endeavor, but nothing stops Bush from raising his voice to push international decision-making in that direction.

Next, it’s time for the United States to end its half-serious attempts to stimulate better economic integration in the Americas. The effort to reduce trade barriers started with good prospects a decade ago, only to fizzle.

No wonder naysayers have had a field day, denigrating the very concept of a hemispheric free-trade pact, calling it a raw deal for the Americas, prematurely declaring it dead and suggesting that other trade discussions have eclipsed the original idea.

Well, they’ve got it wrong. And Bush has a sterling opportunity to prove it by working overtime to spread the prosperity-building and democracy-reinforcing benefits of freer trade and more-open markets in the hemisphere. This city — long viewed as the symbolic capital of Latin America and the Caribbean — should serve as the administrative hub.

Finally, I would like to see the United States reach out to regional leaders, underscoring their importance as allies and neighbors. Bush should plan on hosting Latin American and Caribbean leaders at the White House with greater regularity and schedule more time in their capitals.

Why not start in the Americas, which hear, feel and remember U.S. foreign policy footsteps and missteps most vividly?