By Luisa Yanez Sun-Sentinel. Web-posted: 10:33 p.m. Mar. 16, 2000
Concerned that Cuban President Fidel Castro may be subtly encouraging Cubans to head for South Florida, the U.S. State Department on Thursday warned that it was committed to stopping refugees before they reach U.S. shores.
In editorials in recent days, the Cuban government has taken aim at the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which grants residency to Cuban refugees, and accused the United States of doing little to stop the steady stream of Cuban refugees floating to South Florida.
This week, the Communist Party daily Granma said Castro's government is facing daily pressure from inside the island to open its borders.
"In our own country, ever more radical and growing opinions are being expressed every day which say that Cuba should respond to the prolonged kidnap of Elián and to the Cuban Adjustment Act with the opening of our coastal borders to those who want to accept this infamous,
senseless and provocative law," the editorial said.
To some in Washington D.C. that sounded like an open invitation to those on the island who want to leave. Concerned that Castro was encouraging an exodus, the U.S. State Department issued a statement on Thursday saying: "We reject any claim from Cuba that we are less than committed to
stopping illegal immigration."
They also warned Cubans on the island not to think they will avoid the U.S. Coast Guard.
"The weather will soon be improving and we want the Cuban people to know we are committed to stopping illegal migration from the island," the State Department said.
In its latest editorial on Thursday, Granma said this earlier warning did not constitute a threat by Cuba that it would deliberately unleash a mass exodus of illegal migrants by lifting border controls, as it has done in the past.
"Nobody can say that Cuba has taken a single step in that direction," the editorial said.
It added that, on the contrary, "a special effort by our country in the control of its shores" was currently preventing more Cubans from seeking to migrate illegally.
Jaime Suchlicki, a Castro watcher and head of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, said the rumblings could be that Castro is getting ready to retaliate against the United States over the Elián Gonzalez case and the recent expulsion of a Cuban
diplomat from Washington.
"Castro has threatened these exoduses before and carried out his threat, so he is not to be taken lightly because Castro usually doesn't bluff," Suchlicki said. "I suspect he will either expel American diplomats from Havana or he'll suspend the immigration agreement or open
his borders."
But Suchlicki warns the latter might be too confrontational. "I don't' know if Castro is ready to take such a step against the U.S," he said. "But he will do something soon. All the signs are there."
Richard Nuccio, former Cuba adviser for the Clinton Administration, said on Thursday that Castro's strategy is to push to get the adjustment act repealed by Congress. In the case of Cuban refugees, the act grants residency to those who make it to land after they've been in the U.S. for a
year and a day.
"All this is also part of the cycle of crisis Cuba likes to keep alive with the U.S. He likes to sell the idea of this evil empire trying to repress them by not enforcing the migration agreement between the two countries, he said.
Nuccio said if Castro wanted to spark a mass exodus he would do it simply by telling the Cuban border patrol to stop enforcement.
Past mass exoduses, such as the 1980 Mariel Boatlift and the 1994 Cuban Rafter Crisis, in which tens of thousands of Cubans crossed to Florida, were triggered when Cuba's government deliberately lifted borders.
"We are not seeking, nor do we want conflicts; we are demanding justice for our country, for its right to be free and sovereign, and to follow its own course," Granma said.
Havana alleges current U.S. immigration policy was directly responsible for the case of Elián Gonzalez, who is at the center of a bitter custody battle between his father in Cuba, who wants him returned to the island, and relatives in Miami, who want him to stay.
Granma lashed out at Elián's Miami relatives on Thursday, saying they have repeatedly prevented the boy's father from talking to him on the telephone in recent days.
The Granma editorial said the Miami relatives typically argue with or hang up on the father, tell him the boy is not home or is sleeping, distract the boy during his conversations with his father or simply do not pick up the phone.
Armando Gutierrez, a spokesman for the Miami relatives, denied the Cuban account.
"I don't believe anything that comes out of Havana. It's another creation of Fidel Castro. This is the United States of America, people get to go out. Or sometimes he might be asleep," he said. "I've been there, I've seen him talk to his father for long periods of time."
Linda Osberg-Braun, an attorney for the Miami relatives, said INS set up a schedule for specific times.
She said that when Juan Miguel Gonzalez learned of the schedule, he called and yelled at the relatives, saying he would call his son anytime he wanted.
This report was supplemented with Sun-Sentinel wire services.
Luisa Yanez can be reached at lyanez@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.
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