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Cuba ocupy Mexican Embassy
Yahoo! February 28, 2002. By Vivian Sequera, Associated
Press Writer.
HAVANA (AP) - A bus crashed into the gates of the Mexican Embassy here and
about 20 Cubans rushed inside, where more than a dozen stood on the roof
shouting anti-Fidel Castro (news - web sites) slogans and vowing to throw
themselves to the ground if police came in to get them.
Castro's government on early Thursday accused the U.S. government's Radio
Marti of provoking the embassy occupation the night before by repeatedly
broadcasting statements by Mexican Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda, which it
said were interpreted as "an open invitation to occupy the embassy of
Mexico in Cuba."
Radio Marti's reports were a "gross provocation" leading listeners
to believe that Mexico would grant refuge to any Cuban who showed up, said a
government communique issued early Thursday. Operated largely by Cuban exiles in
Miami, Radio Marti beams anti-Castro news, talk shows and other programs to the
island.
Castaneda, who was visiting Miami this week, was quoted by news media there
as saying that "the doors of the embassy of Mexico on the island are open
to all Cuban citizens."
Many details about the Wednesday night incident were unknown because police
ordered reporters entering the area to leave. The Reuters news agency reported
that two of its staffers were roughed up and one of its television cameras was
stolen.
Castro arrived at the embassy shortly after midnight Thursday where he
greeted — and was cheered by — a group of more than 100 Cuban
bystanders. Traveling in a group of three military jeeps, Castro was accompanied
by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Vice President Carlos Lage, among
others.
The scene evoked memories of 1980, when a dispute over Cubans occupying the
Peruvian Embassy led Cuba to withdraw its guards, prompting about 10,000 people
to flood the mission grounds. The earlier occupation of that embassy began when
six people crashed a bus into the gate and sought asylum.
Castro then opened the port of Mariel, and 125,000 Cubans fled to the United
States in a chaotic boat exodus.
The government statement said the incident occurred about 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday when a group of about 20 "anti-social elements" hijacked a
bus and slammed into the embassy gates.
Cuban officials speaking privately Wednesday night said at least one of the
gate crashers was injured and taken away for medical treatment. In the blocks
around the embassy at least two men were seen being detained and many others
being stopped and searched.
Outside the building late Wednesday, the white and blue Mercedes Benz bus
that crashed into the black metal gate could be could still be seen. Officials
said it was later towed away.
"We can stay here four years, 10 years, but we are not going to leave!"
one man shouted from the roof. "Down with Fidel!" several others
shouted in unison.
Mexican Ambassador Ricardo Pascoe Pierce was out of the country and the
embassy's No. 2 man, commercial attache Andres Ordonez, could be seen outside
the building talking on a cellular telephone.
Several hours before, Ordonez spoke with international journalists who
gathered outside the Mexican embassy to investigate reports that Cubans were
trying to go inside.
At that time, Ordonez denied that anyone had tried to enter the mission and
said that the increased police presence around the building was "part of
the protection routine for embassies by the Cuban government."
Shortly before midnight, scores of uniformed police, some with dogs, and
state security agents shut down all traffic for blocks around the building.
Usually only two Cuban guards protect the entrance of each foreign embassy here.
Several truckloads of burly pro-government workers, some carrying wooden
sticks or metal pipes, pulled up near the embassy early Thursday.
The embassy did not issue a statement and a night guard answering the phone
at Mexico's Department of Foreign Relations in Mexico City late Wednesday said
no one available for a statement.
The idea that "Mexico was going to ... accept people to be taken out of
the country is a rumor," Ordonez said before the occupation occurred. "There
is no variation in the way the embassy is working, the migration norms in the
consular area remain unchanged."
There have been past similar rushes on foreign embassies in Havana by Cubans
seeking to leave the country, but not in the last few years.
A spate of similar embassy occupations in the spring of 1994 preceded an
exodus of about 32,000 Cubans who left the island for the United States on
rickety boats and rafts. | 
