Published Thursday, June 8, 2000, in the Miami Herald
2 missing Cuban doctors located
U.N. sees pair in Zimbabwe amid defection predicament
By Chris Gaither And Sandra Marquez Garcia. smarquez@herald.com
Two missing Cuban doctors, abducted by armed soldiers in Zimbabwe last week and nearly shipped home against their will after requesting political asylum, were located Wednesday by United Nations officials in a detention camp outside the nation's capital.
Authorities in Zimbabwe had denied knowledge of their whereabouts for days, but they finally allowed a U.N. representative to meet with the Cuban physicians for more than an hour after their case aroused international concern for their safety.
Leonel Córdova Rodríguez, 31, and Noris Peña Martínez, 25, were unharmed and being kept in separate cells at Goromonzi Remand Center, about 18 miles from Harare, a U.N. spokesman said.
Officials in Zimbabwe pledged to release the doctors ``shortly'' for a fast-track hearing on their refugee status, which could come as early as today.
But diplomats and a Harvard University expert on Zimbabwe warned that the pair were not yet out of harm's way. Before the doctors can be resettled in a third country, they must win refugee status from Zimbabwe -- a close ally of Cuba.
``Our role in this process is to safeguard the procedures, but the decision itself is made by the government,'' said Dominik Bartsch, a U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman in Lusaka, Zambia, whose office oversees Zimbabwe. ``We'll know our next step when we have a decision.''
Robert I. Rotberg, a Harvard professor who has studied southern Africa for 40 years, said the doctors stand a slim chance of getting that recognition from Zimbabwe because of President Robert Mugabe's longtime political friendship with Fidel Castro. He predicted the government will allow the
doctors to travel to another country so Mugabe can sidestep the international spotlight and the ire of Castro.
``It would be much simpler to just bundle them out of the country,'' Rotberg said.
Mugabe spokesman George Charamba alluded to that predicament in a statement to the Associated Press in Harare. ``We cannot allow this country to be used as a stepping stone for people seeking asylum in another country,'' Charamba said.
Rotberg said the paper trail left by the doctors probably saved them from deportation to Cuba, where they almost certainly would have been jailed. Peña managed to slip a three-page account of the abduction Friday to an Air France employee in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Zimbabwean
and Cuban agents tried to force them aboard a Paris-bound flight with a connection to Havana. Air France refused to board the doctors and they were returned to Harare.
In Washington, the Senate foreign relations committee took steps toward enacting the first sanctions for Zimbabwe's treatment of the Cuban doctors. The committee approved a bill Wednesday that would cut off all U.S. assistance to Zimbabwe and suspend debt reduction until democracy is
established.
Committee spokesman Marc Thiessen, a staffer for U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, said the bill -- already in the works because of a breakdown of law and order in Zimbabwe -- was accelerated following reports of the Cuban doctors' abduction.
Mina Fernández, a second cousin of Peña who owns the Primor Bridals shop in Coral Gables, said she was relieved that her relative had been found unharmed.
``It's an assurance to know that she is well,'' Fernández said. ``Even if she is in prison there, she is not in Cuba. We think with the help of everyone, she will soon be free.''
On Wednesday, Fernández provided The Herald with copies of two e-mails Peña sent to Miami relatives from Zimbabwe. In a message dated May 26 -- two days after the doctors first approached the Canadian Embassy for asylum -- Peña said she had taken a ``decisive step'' in her
life by deserting the Cuban doctors' mission. She said she and a colleague were under the protection of the United Nations and she had approached U.S. diplomats to discuss her case.
``Today I went to the U.S. Embassy and they seemed interested in the case,'' Peña wrote in Spanish.
A Clinton administration official could not confirm Peña's visit to the U.S. Embassy because of the time difference with Zimbabwe.
Herald translator Renato Pérez contributed to this report.
U.S. returns Cuban athlete asking asylum
ANDRES VIGLUCCI aviglucci@herald.com
Cuban baseball star Andy Morales' attempted defection to the United States ended Wednesday in repatriation by the U.S. Coast Guard after he failed to convince immigration officials that he would face political persecution in Cuba.
Morales, who was repatriated along with 30 other passengers intercepted at sea in what federal investigators say was a smuggling venture, is the highest-profile Cuban athlete turned back to Cuba by U.S. authorities. Also in the returned group was another, lesser-known Cuban baseball player,
Carlos Borrego.
Federal authorities also opened an investigation into the alleged smuggling operation. They seized the dangerously overloaded $80,000 speedboat that carried the Cubans and a second powerboat found in the Florida Keys that they believe belongs to the same organized ring. Two suspected smugglers,
both Florida residents, were detained for possible deportation to Cuba, the U.S. Border Patrol said.
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials declined to discuss the repatriation in detail, citing confidentiality policies. But agency spokeswoman María Cardona said none of the 31 Cubans could demonstrate a ``credible fear'' of persecution during interviews with an INS asylum
officer aboard a Coast Guard cutter. That made them subject to repatriation under the 1995 accords with Cuba.
``The INS treated this situation the same as it has treated every other since the '95 accords,'' Cardona said. ``To pass the credible fear threshold they would have to demonstrate that they would be persecuted or physically harmed if they were to be returned to their home country. If they are
found not to have a credible fear, they are sent back to Cuba.''
The decision to send back Morales stunned some Cuban exiles, who assumed that his status as a sports hero on the island would expose him to reprisals for attempting to defect.
Morales, a third baseman, helped the Cuban national team clinch a 12-6 exhibition victory over the Baltimore Orioles with a three-run homer in the ninth inning last year in Maryland.
Some noted that former Cuban pitching star Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez, now a New York Yankee, was kicked off the island's national team, banned from playing ball and forced to work menial jobs after his half-brother, former Florida Marlin pitcher Livan Hernandez, defected in 1995.
OMINOUS PRECEDENT
The harassment El Duque suffered was sufficient for U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to offer him humanitarian parole into the country after he fled Cuba by sea in 1997 and was detained in the Bahamas.
``It's hard to understand how they can send back a baseball player to Cuba, not because he is a famous athlete, but because of the precedent of what has happened to other players,'' said Ninoska Perez, a spokeswoman for the Cuban American National Foundation.
However, Reno's handling of El Duque's case came under sharp criticism from some advocates for immigrants, who contended he was granted special treatment because of his star status.
Others who had traveled to the Bahamas with the pitcher were denied entry into the United States.
Roger Bernstein, a Miami immigration lawyer who unsuccessfully tried to intervene on Morales' behalf, said the ballplayer should have found it easy to pass the credible-fear test.
``It's a very low threshold,'' Bernstein, a former INS lawyer, said. ``He could say, `I'm a national hero and if I seek to defect it would be a national embarrassment to Cuba, and I could be harmed if returned.' ''
Even if he had passed the interview, however, Morales would not have been brought to the United States.
Cubans who clear that first hurdle at sea are taken to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for further interviews to determine whether they merit treatment as political refugees.
If they qualify, the U.S. government tries to find them a third country in which to settle. Because few countries are willing, many Cuban refugees have spent years on the base waiting.
Gus Dominguez, a Cuban-American sports agent in Los Angeles who has helped other Cuban players defect, has said he spoke with Morales in Baltimore about defecting, but the ballplayer apparently had a last-minute change of heart.
Dominguez did not return a phone message Wednesday. But a U.S. friend of Morales' family said that, according to the player's family in Cuba, Morales was in trouble with the Cuban government because he was spotted speaking with Dominguez in Baltimore.
The family friend, who asked not to be identified, said Morales' problems deepened after his wife's exiled father applied for a U.S. immigrant visa for her.
Cuban baseball officials told Morales that he would not go with the national team to the Olympic games in Australia this summer, the family friend said.
The friend described Borrego as a second-string player who had been stopped by the Cuban Coast Guard in nine previous attempts to leave Cuba.
Both presumably were trying to follow in the footsteps of other Cuban baseball players who have struck it rich playing for the Major Leagues.
The Associated Press said 35 other Cuban players have defected in the past 10 years, although the INS said it could not confirm the number.
Morales, however, may be the first high profile player stopped at sea by U.S. authorities. The INS could not immediately say if there have been others.
$6 MILLION MAN
El Duque signed a $6 million contract with the Yankees after declining Reno's offer for parole and moving to Costa Rica on his agents' advice. As a foreign-based player, he was not subject to the major leagues' amateur draft, which would have forced him to negotiate with only one team. Instead,
he became the object of a bidding war by several teams.
Border Patrol investigators believe that, given the position where their boat was intercepted, Morales and his companions intended to come directly to the United States.
A Coast Guard vessel intercepted the 32-foot Scorpion speedboat carrying Morales on Friday afternoon after it ran out of fuel about 25 miles south of the Dry Tortugas.
Border Patrol spokesman Joe Mellia said the two suspected smugglers on board tried to buy fuel from a passing commercial fishing boat, whose crew called the Coast Guard instead.
``That thing was grossly overloaded,'' Mellia said. ``The smugglers were treating these people like cargo, not like human beings.''
On board, investigators found a satellite navigational device with recorded data indicating the boat had been to Cuba, Mellia said. Because none of the passengers would cooperate with investigators, the two alleged smugglers will not be criminally charged, he said.
Because they are not U.S. citizens, both Cuban-born suspects have been placed in deportation proceedings, Mellia said.
The Florida Marine Patrol led investigators to a second boat they have linked to the smugglers, Mellia said.
The investigators believe the boat, which was loaded with fuel canisters and a fuel pump, was on its way to refuel the boat carrying the Cubans because they found on board a navigational device programmed with the Scorpion's position.
Smugglers are increasingly resorting to such refueling stratagems because a beefed-up Border Patrol presence has discouraged smuggling departures from the Keys, forcing smugglers to leave from Miami-Dade County, a farther distance from Cuba.
Herald staff writer Juan O. Tamayo contributed to this report.
Police upset over INS view of 'risk'
From Elian's Saga. Published Thursday, June 8, 2000, in the Miami Herald
By Gail Epstein Nieves. gepstein@herald.com
Miami Police reacted with dismay and doubt Wednesday to a report by the region's immigration chief suggesting that some local officers tried to thwart federal agents in the Elián González case.
Contents of the ``after-action report,'' sent by District Director Robert Wallis to the Washington headquarters of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, were disclosed in The Herald Wednesday. The report said immigration agents believed ``local police would likely have impeded federal
attempts to enter'' Little Havana and remove Elián from his relatives' home.
``Ludicrous,'' said Police Chief Raul Martinez, who cautioned that he hadn't read the report and was still awaiting a return phone call from Wallis. ``I wasn't here when the raid happened, but I seriously doubt it.''
``Absurd,'' said Lt. Tony Rodriguez, president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Miami.
``It's sad they would even say something like that, especially when they relied heavily on the Miami Police Department for information,'' agreed Officer Bobby Navarro, president of the Hispanic Officers Association.
``I would like to see the chief evaluate all the facts and find out if Mr. Wallis' statements were accurate,'' Navarro added. ``If they were not, Mr. Wallis should apologize to members of the Miami Police Department and the community, because it definitely portrays it as if we can't be
trusted.''
Wallis declined to answer questions about the report Wednesday, saying he would not be available until today. But he sent a letter to The Herald's editor late Wednesday disputing the newspaper's characterization of his memo, saying the story ``incorrectly implies that there is a lack of trust
between the INS and the Miami Police Department.''
``The INS considers the officers of the Miami Police Department to be among the finest in the country, and it is our privilege to be able to work with them on a daily basis,'' Wallis wrote.
IN CONTRAST
His letter to The Herald contrasted with language in his report, which included ``the local police'' in its listing of ``assessed risks to federal law enforcement officers and their ability to safely remove Elián González from the residence'' in the early-morning hours of April 22.
``The actions of the local police controlling access to the six-block area surrounding the residence complicated efforts to collect information within the subject area,'' Wallis wrote in the report. ``On one occasion, emergency lights and radios were used to alert the Cuban American Security
forces that there were federal agents in the area.''
Wallis' memo also said, ``At night, vehicles were often positioned directly behind barricades to deny vehicle entry.''
But Chief Martinez and the union leaders questioned where the INS got its information. They said they doubted any officer purposefully signaled information to Cuban-American security forces.
``How did they reach that conclusion?'' Martinez asked. ``You could make the same argument if an officer was scratching his head. Was that a pre-arranged signal that the feds were coming in? How do they know the officer didn't hit the button by mistake?''
As for the vehicles used as barricades, Martinez and others said the cars were intended to keep out crowds and the media -- not federal agents. Ranking commanders, not officers, made decisions about barricade placement, police said.
NO ISSUES RAISED
Martinez, who was tapped to become chief after the raid, said he subsequently met with the heads of many federal agencies -- including INS -- and no one raised any issues about Miami Police conduct in the Elián case.
Any officer who interfered with or obstructed the federal agents could be found in violation of police department rules, said Maj. Paul Shepard, commander of Internal Affairs.
Rodriguez, the FOP president, called the INS report ``a direct attack on the integrity of our officers'' and challenged INS to request an internal investigation.
``I assure you when the investigation comes out, there won't be evidence to support our officers being involved in actions as those implied,'' he said.
Martinez said he would not order an internal review until he reads the report and talks to Wallis about the source of the allegations.
``I certainly hope the INS report is overblown, because if it's true, it's sickening and terrible for relations between employees,'' said Sgt. David Magnusson, a robbery squad supervisor. ``It will manifest itself in a whole bunch of false accusations and lack of trust.''
Operation Reunion After Action Report
INS favored grandmothers' visit to get Elián home, records show
By Alfonso Chardy . achardy@herald.com
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner endorsed the idea of bringing Elián González's grandmothers to the United States in January because the visit could advance the agency's goal of returning the boy to his father in Cuba, official documents show.
E-mails, written by INS officials shortly before the grandmothers arrived, show that Meissner didn't want the women to arrive before a federal judge ruled on whether Elián was entitled to an asylum hearing because the INS would be unable to hand over the boy without such a ruling.
As it turned out, the grandmothers visited with Elián in Miami well before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled March 21 that the boy was not entitled to a hearing, a decision upheld June 1 by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Elián's father ultimately came to the United States on April 6 and was reunited with his son after federal agents took the boy from his Miami relatives in an armed raid April 22. Elián remains in the United States under INS orders not to leave pending resolution of the appeals
process.
Judicial Watch, a conservative organization that opposes policies of the Clinton administration, obtained copies of the e-mails and posted them on its Web site -- www.judicialwatch.org -- claiming they showed collaboration between the administration and Cuba on the Elián case.
Judicial Watch is representing Donato Dalrymple, the Broward County man who helped rescue Elián on Thanksgiving Day, in his lawsuit in federal court seeking damages in excess of $100 million for alleged violation of his civil rights in the Elián raid.
Meissner's office denied Judicial Watch's assertions about coordination with Cuba, saying the e-mails merely reflect coordination with the State Department. Kendall Coffey, an attorney for Elián's Miami relatives, said the documents are ``intriguing and disquieting'' because, in his view,
they indicate irregularities in the way U.S. agencies dealt with the Elián case.
While the two e-mails Judicial Watch posted do not describe any detailed collaboration with Cuba, one of the documents does allude to some type of coordination.
``DOS wants to have a daily conference call to coordinate press guidance and communications with the Cubans,'' one of the e-mails says. ``They have lots of questions concerning the timing of litigation, so they have asked for OIL to participate.''
Written on Jan. 19, the day Elián's Miami relatives sued in federal court for an asylum hearing, the e-mail references to DOS and OIL are to the Department of State and Justice's Office of Immigration Litigation. The author is Owen Cooper, the INS general counsel.
María Cardona, an INS spokeswoman, said the e-mail refers to coordination with the State Department on press statements and that the reference to Cuba is to information the State Department can provide to Cuba on the case.
The other e-mail was written Jan. 15, a day when rumors spread in Miami that Elián's grandmothers were planning a trip to the United States. They actually arrived Jan. 21 but did not get to see Elián until five days later.
The e-mail, from one INS official to another in the office of international affairs, contains a summary of a meeting with Meissner in which she discussed the idea of a grandmothers' visit, when it should occur and what role the INS should play in it.
The e-mail indicated that the INS wanted to stay away from arranging the grandmothers' visit.
``The conclusion was reached that INS cannot assume the role of facilitator for this visit, nor provide access to Elián,'' the e-mail said. ``[Meissner] was FIRM about not having any INS involvement in this initiative.''
While the INS's role in arranging the grandmothers' trip was ultimately minor, the agency's involvement in helping the women see Elián was major. INS officials sent a letter to the Miami relatives ordering them to take Elián to see his grandmothers.
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