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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Official: Bush veto sure on Cuba visits
WASHINGTON - EFE -- The State Department's top
Latin America policy official said Monday that
President Bush would veto any bill allowing U.S.
tourists to visit Cuba because ''beachgoers are
not going to liberate'' the communist-ruled island.
Roger Noriega, the new assistant secretary of
state for Western Hemisphere affairs, spoke to
a gathering at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies here and insisted that the United States
had ''not turned its back'' on the challenges
posed by widespread poverty, corruption and crime
in many Latin America countries.
Before his confirmation as assistant secretary,
Noriega was the U.S. ambassador to the Organization
of American States. Questioned by EFE on the divergence
between the White House and a growing number of
legislators opposed to the policy of isolating
Cuba, Noriega stressed that ''we're not in agreement''
with the idea of easing the travel ban.
Lawmakers from both parties say a relaxation
of Washington's four-decade-old economic embargo
against Cuba would promote a democratic opening
on the island. The House of Representatives is
expected to vote today on a proposed amendment
that would cut off funding for efforts to enforce
the travel restrictions. A similar measure passed
the lower chamber last year but stalled n the
Senate.
Turning to other issues, Noriega acknowledged
that the post-Sept. 11, 2001, political climate
had all but banished talk of an immigration accord
with Mexico. He insisted, however, that bilateral
cooperation on law enforcement and border security
had "never been better.''
He also lauded Colombia's stepped-up efforts
against drug trafficking and reaffirmed U.S. support
for the quest to achieve a peaceful solution to
Venezuela's long-running political crisis.
24 Cubans found on U.S. island
Group was smuggled by boat from the Dominican
Republic
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Smugglers from the Dominican Republic used a
tiny, uninhabited U.S.-owned island off the coast
of Puerto Rico to drop off 24 Cuban migrants Monday
in a tactic that virtually ensures legal entry
to the U.S. mainland.
The group, including an athlete who defected
during the recent Pan American Games in the Dominican
Republic, is the largest in recent memory to reach
U.S. soil via Puerto Rico, a U.S. Commonwealth.
It also marks the third time in the last month
that Cubans have used U.S. territory in the Caribbean
as an alternate route to the mainland.
U.S. POLICY
Under Washington's wet-foot, dry-foot policy,
most Cubans interdicted at sea are returned to
Cuba, while those who make landfall on U.S. soil
are generally allowed to stay.
Monday's group was found on Mona Island, 46 miles
off Puerto Rico's west coast and east of the Dominican
Republic.
''The smugglers dropped them off at Mona and
went back to the DR,'' Víctor Colón,
assistant chief for the U.S. Border Patrol in
Puerto Rico, said in a telephone interview. "Mona
is not very good for most people to land. However,
it does the trick for Cubans.''
Authorities said the group -- 15 males, six females
and three juveniles -- made landfall at 6:15 a.m.
The Border Patrol was notified by the U.S. Natural
Resources Department, which has officers on Mona
Island.
ASYLUM REQUEST
All 24 requested asylum and were transported
to Puerto Rico for immigration proceedings, Colón
said. They were taken to a detention facility
in Aguadilla on the northwest tip of the island.
Colón said most of the Cubans were from
Havana and Matanzas. All of them left Cuba with
legal exit visas by obtaining letters of invitation
from residents in the Dominican Republic. At least
one traveled to Haiti and later crossed the border
to the Dominican Republic. The two countries share
the island of Hispaniola.
The Cubans' stay in the Dominican Republic varied
from several months to as long as three years.
They worked various jobs to save enough money
to pay for the trip.
WOODEN BOAT
At about 10 p.m. Sunday night, the group met
at an unidentified bay in the capital city of
Santo Domingo and slipped into the back of a truck
or van with no windows. They drove to another
location and boarded a wooden boat known as a
yola for the eight to 10-hour journey to Mona
Island.
Each passenger paid $3,000 -- an extraordinarily
high price, which authorities say is due to the
increasing difficulty for smugglers to successfully
sneak migrants into the country.
''This indicates that smugglers in the Dominican
Republic are organized to smuggle Cuban nationals,''
Colón said.
Monday's arrival brings to 72 the number of Cubans
who have been smuggled and apprehended by Border
Patrol agents in Puerto Rico so far this fiscal
year, which ends Sept. 30. During the same time
frame last year, a total of 19 Cubans made landfall
on the U.S. territory.
All of the women in Monday's group were traveling
with either a husband, father or brother, Colón
said.
"The three juveniles were accompanied by
both their parents.''
A SWIMMER
Among the migrants was swimmer Wendel Rodríguez
Osorio, who deserted the Cuban sports delegation
at the Pan Am games in July.
Five other Cubans who made it to the U.S. Virgin
Islands in the Caribbean over the last month have
been allowed to stay and pursue claims for political
asylum.
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