Posted at 10:14 a.m. EDT Wednesday, July 5, 2000 in the Miami Herald .
Zimbabwe still holding Cuban defectors, U.N. refugee agency says
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- (AP) -- Two Cuban doctors seeking political asylum were still being held by Zimbabwean police Wednesday, three weeks after the Zimbabwe government promised to hand them over to the U.N. refugee agency, an agency spokesman said.
Dominic Bartsch of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees said the Zimbabwe government had failed to explain why the two were still being detained.
``We cannot speculate on the reasons,'' he said by telephone from refugee agency's regional headquarters in neighboring Zambia.
No comment was immediately available from Zimbabwe authorities or the Cuban embassy in Harare.
Bartsch said the refugee agency had negotiated to transfer Leonel Cordova Rodriguez, 31, and Noris Pena Martinez, 25, to an unspecified third country. The two were entitled to asylum under international regulations.
Last month, the United States agreed to grant refugee status to the two Cubans. Newspaper reports in Zimbabwe, however, said Cuba, a longtime ally of Zimbabwe, objected to them going to the United States.
``We have indications other countries are willing to take them and we are still waiting for a response from Zimbabwe,'' Bartsch said.
The doctors were part of a 152-member Cuban medical mission in Zimbabwe.
They accused Zimbabwe security officers of kidnapping them after their intention to defect became known. They said Zimbabwe authorities attempted to have them flown to Cuba on June 2 via Johannesburg, South Africa and Paris.
Air France refused to let them board its flight from Johannesburg to Paris after the doctors slipped a note to a crew member alleging they were kidnap victims.
The doctors were returned to Zimbabwe for the U.N. refugee agency to settle their status.
Cuba denounced the defectors, saying they betrayed the medical mission to aid Zimbabwe's health service, but denied any involvement in the kidnapping.
Spain orders 8 Cuban asylum seekers to leave country
Posted at 11:43 a.m. EDT Wednesday, July 5, 2000
MADRID, Spain -- (AP) -- Spanish authorities have ordered eight Cuban asylum seekers to leave the country today while 20 others remain detained at Madrid's international airport, said the lawyer for the Cubans.
But the eight started a hunger strike and ``will resist leaving Spain as long as they have breath in their bodies,'' said lawyer Guillermo Perez-Reyes today.
At least 30 Cubans, including a 68-year-old diabetic woman and a 10-year-old girl, arrived at the Madrid airport in the last week to claim political asylum. All but two of them have been refused asylum or are still waiting for permission to begin the lengthy asylum request proceedings.
Two were released from detention for ``humanitarian reasons'' Tuesday and allowed to enter Spain while they await the outcome of their hearings, said Perez-Reyes.
Spanish authorities were not immediately available for comment on the issue.
Many of those detained have spent as long as five days in the simple refugee holding cells at Madrid's Barajas airport.
Perez-Reyes said the asylum seekers bought tickets from Cuba to Russia with a stopover in Madrid. In various small groups in recent days, they got off the airplane during the stopover.
``These people can be in serious danger if they are forced out of the country,'' said Perez-Reyes. ``They are educated people who are legitimate opponents of the Cuban regime. These are not ignorant people simply seeking a better economic life.''
Perez-Reyes said police at the airport are prohibiting the Cubans from receiving visitors, except for lawyers, and have confiscated their cellular phones.
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