By Christopher Marquis. The New York Times. June 8, 2000.
WASHINGTON, June 7 -- Breaking a long tradition, the Clinton administration forcibly repatriated today a prominent Cuban baseball player who had tried to slip into the United States by sea.
The athlete, Andy Morales, a big-hitting third baseman on Cuba's national team, was returned home by Coast Guard authorities after he failed to convince American immigration agents that he deserved political asylum, administration officials said.
Cuban-American advocates and Mr. Morales's family in the United States voiced outrage at the action, which they said was unprecedented. An immigration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that it was the first time in memory that the United States had sent home a prominent
Cuban athlete who had tried to flee his country.
The United States has welcomed dozens of defecting Cuban athletes over the years, including Orlando Hernandez, the New York Yankees pitcher, and his brother, Livan, the 1997 World Series-winning pitcher of the Florida Marlins.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is Cuban-American, called the decision on Mr. Morales "a real shame."
Because Mr. Morales has renounced the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro, "it's going to be very hard for him," said Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican. "His life will be in jeopardy."
Ramon Batista, a sports agent in Miami who was asked by Mr. Morales's relatives to represent him, said that "if he had made it to the United States, I'm sure he would be in the major leagues." Administration officials said that Mr. Morales, who was picked up off the Florida coast on
Friday with 32 others, did not merit special treatment and that his case had been handled like that of any other Cuban refugee caught trying to enter the country illegally.
Mr. Morales was aboard a speedboat when he was intercepted by the Coast Guard and had apparently paid smugglers to help him cross the Florida Straits, officials said. Two suspected smugglers are being held in Florida. And the other 30 would-be refugees were returned today with Mr. Morales.
"It is not unprecedented to interdict migrants attempting to enter the United States illegally," said Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman.
An administration official said Mr. Morales had been interviewed twice by immigration agents and both times failed to make a case that he faced persecution if returned to Cuba.
Mr. Morales, who enjoyed a brief moment in the American spotlight last year with a three-run homer in Cuba's victory over the Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game, told American authorities he wanted to play in the major leagues.
"He said he came here to play baseball. That does not constitute a well-founded fear of persecution," said the administration official, who asked not to be identified. "This was a blatant case of alien smuggling, well organized and highly paid."
The administration position appeared to signal a hardening toward Cubans who defy established procedures for immigrating to the United States.
Under a 1995 accord, the United States agreed to take in a minimum of 20,000 Cuban immigrants a year, processing them through the American mission in Havana.
From the administration's standpoint, the migration agreement has been a rare point of harmony in United States-Cuban relations.
"We do not condone blatant violations of U.S. law and do not bring interdicted individuals into the United States except under extraordinary circumstances, generally involving medical emergencies," Mr. Reeker said.
Some officials have recently voiced fears that the case of Elián González, a 6-year-old Cuban boy locked in a custody battle between his Cuban father and his Miami relatives, might jeopardize the stabilizing accord.
"The administration is making sure there's no forced migration issues and no rafter crisis," said Pamela Falk, a professor of international law at the City University of New York law school. "Partly it's because the mood in the country has shifted because of Elián."
American policy, which is commonly referred to as the "wet foot, dry foot" distinction, returns Cuban refugees like Mr. Morales if they are intercepted at sea and cannot demonstrate a fear of persecution. If they can demonstrate such a fear, the United States will seek haven for them
in a third country. But Cuban refugees who reach American soil become eligible for permanent residency in a year.
The treatment of Mr. Morales contrasted starkly with that of Orlando Hernandez, who was one of Cuba's most celebrated pitchers until 1996, when he was banned from baseball after the government suspected his intention to defect.
Mr. Hernandez, who said he had endured harassment in Cuba, drifted into the Bahamas after setting out in a leaky boat with six others in 1998. Attorney General Janet Reno offered him political asylum in the United States after Bahamian authorities refused to hear his claim and prepared to send
him home.
But, guided by a savvy sports agent, Mr. Hernandez took refuge in Costa Rica, which allowed him to avoid baseball's draft and negotiate a $6.6 million contract as a free agent.
Mr. Morales's father-in-law, Carlos Castillo of Miami, said the ballplayer had left behind his wife and two children in Cuba because he was "desperate" to make a better living in the United States.
Mr. Castillo, who was in touch by telephone with Mr. Morales's relatives in Havana tonight, accused American authorities of putting the whole Cuban family at risk.
"They buried him alive and all the family," Mr. Castillo said. "They just ended his career."
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company |