Posted on Sun, Mar. 03, 2002 in
The Miami
Herald.
HAVANA - (AP) -- The whereabouts of 21 young men who crashed through the
gates of the Mexican Embassy in a stolen bus remained unknown Saturday, a day
after they were evicted from the mission by Cuban police acting at Mexico's
request.
It was still unclear what would happen to the men after the two-day episode,
which was sparked by rumors that Mexico was offering refuge to Cubans who wanted
to leave the island.
Relatives of some of the men said they did not know where they were being
held. Mexican officials said they knew but were not going to release details.
''We think it is up to the Cuban government'' to decide whether that
information should be made public, Mexican Ambassador Ricardo Pascoe Pierce said
Saturday.
Cuba has offered no information on the men since a Friday morning communiqué
reporting their eviction. The group stole a bus Wednesday night and crashed into
the Mexican Embassy gates, then rushed inside in an unsuccessful bid to leave
Cuba. Cuban police took the men from the embassy Friday morning, at Mexico's
request.
Meanwhile, a young man who evidently had been drinking vaulted over the
metal fence around the seafront American mission in Havana on Saturday.
The unidentified man in his early 20s entered the U.S. Interests Section
grounds about 10:30 a.m., said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of
anonymity. The source said the man was an "intruder.''
While being interviewed by U.S. immigration officers, the man asked whether
he could go home and the officers helped him back to his house, the American
official said. | 
