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Posted on Thu, Jul. 04, 2002 in The Miami Herald.
Cuba denies exodus rumors
State cites 'provocation'
By Nancy San Martin. [email protected].
The Cuban government warned its citizens Wednesday not to fall victim to
''false reports'' claiming that boaters from South Florida would be traveling by
sea today to pick up anyone who wanted to flee the island.
The communiqué appeared to be a response to a flurry of rumors that
have swept Cuba and parts of South Florida over the past few days suggesting
that the government was prepared to allow a mass exodus of Cuban migrants.
The communiqué, broadcast throughout the day on state radio and TV,
said that any unauthorized boat entering Cuban waters could be seized and its
occupants could be charged with migrant trafficking.
The Cuban government also blamed radio broadcasts out of Miami for inciting
a potential mass exodus, though it did not name any particular source.
''Counterrevolutionary radio stations have been broadcasting the rumor that
on July 4 boats from the United States would come to pick up people who want to
travel illegally to the United States,'' the government communiqué
stated. "These are vulgar provocations by the terrorist mafia in Miami. . .
. Nobody will be authorized to leave the country illegally.''
The rumors, which appear to have a strong following in Havana Province and
Pinar del Rio, began circulating last week after President Fidel Castro warned
that migration accords could be dissolved if the United States and the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana continued acts considered hostile.
The government has said Castro's words were misinterpreted.
''It wasn't a threat, it was simply a factual analysis,'' said Luis Fernández,
a spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. "It was an
honest reflection of what is occurring.''
Cuba watchers in the United States have accused Castro of setting the stage
to unleash another exodus like those in 1965, 1980 and 1994 as a way to rid the
island of alleged malcontents.
Whatever the intent of Castro's speech, word about a pending exodus spread
quickly in Cuba and included instructions for those who wanted to leave: Wait
just outside the 12-mile limit that marks Cuban waters.
Sources in Cuba said many have taken it to heart and have rafts available to
float out to international waters.
Those reports apparently compelled the government to address the persistent
rumors.
''No one should let themselves be tricked,'' the government's communiqué
said. "We want to clarify the following: Any boat coming from the outside
that illegally penetrates our territorial waters and is intercepted will be
confiscated and its crews tried as migrant traffickers to the full extent of the
law.
''No one will be authorized to leave the country illegally,'' the government
said.
U.S. officials were pleased that the Cuban government had tried to
circumvent illegal departures.
''We've been working hard to achieve an orderly process of migration,'' said
Charles Barclay, a spokesman for the Department of State. ''We welcome any
public discouragement'' of a mass exodus.
Cuba also has increased security along the coast.
Fatal crash in Gables kills mother newly arrived from Cuba with dreams
for son
By Eunice Sigler. [email protected]
Mayda Cano, 35, medical doctor, arrived from Cuba two weeks ago with her
9-year-old son. She tried for seven years to leave the island to give her boy a
new life in the United States.
She died early Wednesday, killed in a car crash, a week before her 36th
birthday. Her relatives struggled most of the day with how to tell her son Alex
but finally did Wednesday night.
''She was a super mom,'' said Mayda Cano's brother Jorge. "She was
totally dedicated to Alex. It's a very sad case.''
The family is also grieving for Cano's brother Jose, who police say turned
his small car into the path of a Jeep in a Coral Gables intersection. The
accident also injured Jose Cano's two young sons, who were in good condition at
Miami Children's Hospital.
''He feels terrible about it,'' Jorge Cano said.
On Wednesday, the brothers planned funeral arrangements for their sister and
recalled the happy weeks they spent with her since she arrived at Miami
International Airport on June 23.
Mayda Cano wasted no time getting her son acclimated. She arranged for Alex
to attend a summer school that taught English. She prepared to enroll him in
public school for the fall.
''She wanted to make sure he grew up in a free country, and she was totally
dedicated to his education,'' Jorge Cano said. "She said, 'I don't care. I
was a doctor there, but I'll wait on tables here until I get my certification.'
"She was a very sweet person. Very loving. An incredible mother.''
Mayda Cano was also enthralled with South Florida, its grandness and
opportunities.
On Sunday, Jorge Cano and his family took Mayda and Alex for lunch at a
Cuban restaurant, La Habana Vieja, and sightseeing.
''We went to the Museum of Science,'' he said. "She was delighted with
all the interactive games, and she was reading all the science and physics
displays.''
On Tuesday evening, she went for a drive with her brother Jose, his wife and
his two boys. Mayda sat in the rear with the boys.
According to police, this is what happened next:
Jose Cano drove a 1996 Corolla west on Bird Road. Just before 7:30 p.m., he
turned left onto Le Jeune Road. At the same time, Sandra Iglesias drove her Jeep
east into the intersection and hit the Toyota.
''According to both drivers, the traffic signal was solid green in both
directions,'' said Coral Gables Police Sgt. Raul Pedroso.
Mayda Cano was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Unit.
She died at 12:35 a.m.
Alex had stayed home with his grandmother.
Jose Cano remained grief-stricken. Relatives tried to console him as he
waited for his boys to be released Wednesday from the hospital.
But what the family feared most was how to tell Alex. At around 8 p.m.
Wednesday, they did.
Jorge Cano said his nephew appeared to be coping.
Alex ''is a super well-rounded kid who had a very strong bond with his
mom,'' Cano said.
Today, Alex will spend his first Fourth of July in this country with Jorge
and his family.
''We all feel very cheated, because we had something given to us and then
taken away,'' Jorge Cano said.
New Cuban exodus 'speculation'
Officials defend migration pact
By David Cisneros. [email protected].
Cuban and U.S. officials Tuesday deflated rumors that Cuban President Fidel
Castro is planning another mass exodus like the ones in 1980 and 1994, which
brought hundreds of thousands of Cubans to Florida shores.
Speculation has swirled that another sanctioned migration is imminent since
Castro warned U.S.-Cuban relations, including the 1994 migration accord, were at
risk because the U.S. Interests Section in Havana was "organizing
conspiracies.''
Many saw Castro's June 26 speech in front of the Cuban National Assembly as
a threat.
On Tuesday, Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón said the Cuban
government still s the migration accord -- under which the United States
grants visas to 20,000 Cubans each year and sends back all Cubans intercepted at
sea.
''We believe the migratory accord should be kept in effect,'' Alarcón
told WOCN-1450 AM in a telephone interview Tuesday. "It's a useful accord,
convenient for both peoples.''
On Tuesday, the State Department called exodus rumors "speculation.''
''We believe the migration accords have largely promoted their central
purpose of encouraging safe, legal and orderly migration between Cuba and the
United States,'' spokesman Richard Boucher said.
The U.S. Interests Section in Havana effectively acts as a consulate for the
United States in a country where it has no official diplomatic ties. Since last
year, it has handed out to Cubans hundreds of shortwave radios capable of tuning
into the U.S.-sponsored Radio Martí, much to the chagrin of Cuban
officials.
The Cuban Interests Section in Washington did not return Herald phone calls
Tuesday.
A Herald source in Havana on Tuesday said there are rumors that vessels from
Florida will move into waters off Cuba to pick up rafters.
'It's a statement that people attribute to 'someone in the U.S. government,'
'' the source said. "I just took a drive through the area of Cojímar,
which in 1994 was a choice departure point for rafters, and saw everything was
peaceful. No one with inner tubes or improvised boats. I did hear rumors,
though.''
Meanwhile, Brothers to the Rescue, the Cuban exile group whose planes were
shot down by Cuban jets in 1996, said Tuesday it will suspend flights aimed at
rescuing rafters if Castro allows another mass exodus from the island.
Brothers to the Rescue president José Basulto said the group is
trying to prevent Cubans from playing into Castro's ''political blackmail'' by
leaving the island. He also said an exodus would be an "act of war.''
Basulto urged Cubans to stick to homegrown efforts for democratization such
as the Varela Project, which was stymied recently by the Cuban National
Assembly's proclamation that capitalism will never return to the country.
With only two small Cessna 337s at its disposal, Brothers to the Rescue's
statement is largely symbolic. Its planes, which locate sea-stranded refugees
and point Coast Guard cutters in the right direction, would be overwhelmed in
the event of a mass migration, Basulto said.
This year the number of known Cuban refugees is down.
The Coast Guard has intercepted 267 Cubans at sea. In the first half of
2001, it intercepted 363, records show.
''We're aware of Castro's message and what he said,'' Coast Guard
spokeswoman Anastasia Burns said.
"We remain on high alert since Sept. 11, and we're out there
patrolling. If we hear any further messages, we'll react.''
Herald staff translator Renato Pérez contributed to this report.
Pair fleeing Cuba 'land' at Versailles
Both say they came by boat, wandered streets for two days
By Tere Figueras and David Cisneros. [email protected].
Posted on Wed, Jul. 03, 2002
Soaking wet and looking for a safe haven, a young man and woman claiming to
have fled Cuba by boat ''landed'' in an unlikely spot Tuesday afternoon: Calle
Ocho's Versailles Restaurant.
The pair came in from a rainstorm and entered the famed eatery on the
outskirts of Little Havana, where exiles gather as much to talk politics as to
sip café cubano, prompting a flurry of hospitality. Patrons thrust money
at them, and waitresses hustled to bring Cokes and Cuban sandwiches.
They identified themselves as Roberto Rivero, 26, and Yumaisy La Rosa, 20,
and said they left Cuba by boat from Cárdenas in the province of Matanzas
-- arriving in South Florida on Sunday and wandering for two days.
Miami police ed the Immigration and Naturalization Service and were
told the two Cubans would have to present themselves to immigration officials
this morning, police spokeswoman Herminia Salas-Jacobson said.
Rivero and La Rosa were taken to the Homeless Assistance Center in Overtown.
The agency was to arrange transportation to the INS office.
''They didn't commit any crime, so we treated this as a homeless
situation,'' Salas-Jacobson said.
Immigration officials would be responsible for determining their legal
status and the authenticity of their story, she said.
INS spokeswoman Patricia Mancha said she was not aware of the case, and
referred calls to the U.S. Border Patrol. A spokesman for that agency did not
return calls Tuesday night.
''They said they were Cuban, hungry and tired,'' Salas-Jacobson said. "This
is not a situation where someone comes right off the shore. This is a very
popular restaurant in the middle of the city, far away from every major
waterway.''
For the patrons at Versailles, the entry of two Cubans claiming to have
survived a harrowing trip across the Florida Straits was an unexpected lunchtime
joy.
''Like something out of a novela,'' said activist Jorge Acosta, who was at
Versailles drinking coffee.
The arrivals, who said they had wandered the city for two days -- sleeping
one night at a gas station -- were plied with hot sandwiches and soft drinks.
''They couldn't eat. They were disoriented, especially the girl,'' said cook
Carlos Lopez, who followed as La Rosa and Rivero -- as well as the most of the
restaurant regulars -- went into a side dining room.
The exuberant crowd also opened their wallets.
'People took out fives, tens, twenties. The girl said, 'We didn't come here
for money.' But people kept shoving money at them, and they finally took some,''
Lopez said. 'They were really nervous. The girl kept asking if this was going to
be like Cuba. Everyone kept telling her, 'Don't worry, everything will be taken
care of.' ''
Rivero, who said he was a signer of the Varela Project -- a grass-roots
initiative that called for democratic and economic reforms on the island -- said
they were from Santiago de Cuba and had escaped with the help of a friend. Two
more people accompanied them on the trip, he said, but they were picked up by
car after landing.
''I left Cuba because it was unbearable,'' Rivero, a house painter, said,
offering a colorful explanation for leaving. "Socialism is crap.''
El Nuevo Herald reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla contributed to this report.
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