But 12 from same craft sent back

  BY ELAINE DE VALLE

  Seven Cubans -- apparently dissidents and some relatives -- have won a rare chance to be resettled in a third country after the Coast Guard intercepted them at sea last week, but 12 other people on the same boat were taken back to Cuba on Monday.

  Few Cubans taken into custody at sea have avoided being repatriated since the practice began in May 1995. The seven, who apparently proved they had credible fear of government persecution if returned, now have protected status. They will be held at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay until they are sent to a country other than Cuba or the United States.

  Twelve others on the same stolen boat were held on a Coast Guard cutter for five days as authorities determined their fate, then taken to Bahía de Cabañas, Cuba, just after noon Monday, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Doss.

  Cuban-American activists and legislators had lobbied the White House for all 19 of the Cubans to be given safe haven because of their ties to the 24th of February
  Movement, an island dissident organization named in honor of Brothers to the Rescue fliers shot down by Cuban MiGs on Feb. 24, 1996.

  The group reportedly included at least 10 members of the group and at least two members of the Democratic 30th of November Party and the Confederation of Democratic Cuban Workers.

  ''The administration says that all 19 were very carefully interviewed for claims of fear of persecution and I'm deeply saddened about the repatriation of the ones that were not spared,'' said U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Miami).

  AT GUANTANAMO

  Five people, including two children, had already been taken to Guantánamo, and two others were taken there Monday after further interviews. Díaz-Balart said he believes the last two are a couple, but did not know their names.

  The two children were believed to be Juan Manuel Zayas Peñalver and Yordi Chávez Cabrera, both 14, said Ninoska Pérez Castellón, a longtime Castro critic and human rights activist who is now spokeswoman for the Cuban Liberty Council.

  Sergio Pérez Hierro, who became acting president of the 24th of February Movement when Leonardo Bruzón Avila was imprisoned last year, is also believed to be one of the five.

  Another was Belsy Avelina Cabrera Herrera, the mother of Yordi Chávez. Her husband, Adalberto Chávez, fled the island on a small rowboat 11 months ago. Chávez, who lives in South Miami-Dade said he had spoken briefly to his wife by phone Monday and confirmed that she and their son had been taken to Guantánamo.

  'I tried to find out who the others at the base were, but my wife told me they were separated. `The boy and I are on one side and the others somewhere else,' she said,'' Chávez told The Herald in a telephone interview.

  A member of both the 30th of November group and the confederation, Chávez is in the process of making himself a U.S. resident and wants his family to join him.

  ''But any other country except Cuba is fine with me,'' he said.

  The 1995 migration accords between the U.S. and Cuba call for the repatriation of most Cubans who try to enter South Florida illegally. Though the Coast Guard and Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not provide exact numbers Monday, only a couple dozen or so have apparently convinced authorities they had credible asylum claims and went to Guantánamo.

  The agreement states the Cubans cannot be brought to the United States directly.

  Mariela Ferretti, a spokeswoman with the Cuban American National Foundation, said foundation members were trying to find a country to take the group. ``Not just any country, but a place that is reasonable and truly welcoming for Cuban refugees.

  DIRE REPERCUSSIONS

  ''And, of course, we are concerned over the well-being of those who were repatriated,'' Ferretti said. ``We were hoping for all of them to receive protective status from the United States.''

  She and many exiles worry the Cubans could face dire repercussions upon return.

  The U.S. ''wet-foot/dry-foot policy'' -- so named because Cubans who make it to shore are allowed to stay -- has long been a thorn in the side of Cuban Americans. They were recently angered by a U.S. decision to return 12 Cubans who allegedly hijacked a boat after the two governments negotiated a maximum sentence of 10 years.

  Although proponents say the deal is critical to the deterrence of illegal and dangerous migration of Cubans who flee on unseaworthy or overcrowded vessels, some say it's inhuman.

  ''Nobody was ever thrown back over the Berlin Wall,'' Díaz-Balart said.

  Pérez Castellón, who has a weekday radio program on Cuban issues, said it's hard to predict what criteria officials will use.

  ''One time, I got a call from Navy intelligence that they had intercepted three Cubans who had given my name and said they were dissidents and had transmitted news from Cuba through my radio program,'' she said. ``I told them they were all involved in peaceful opposition activities, and they still repatriated two and took only one to Guantánamo.''

  So far this year, the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted at least 1,002 Cubans at sea, compared with 931 in all of 2002. Those numbers include 32 intercepted over the weekend.

  Petty Officer Doss said the Coast Guard found a group of six Cubans on a homemade raft about 2 p.m. Sunday 21 miles north of Cuba. Another group of 26 Cubans was intercepted about 3:15 a.m. Saturday, eight miles north of the Marquesas, he added.

  The Associated Press reported that 53 Cuban migrants who made it to the Florida Keys Thursday were released from Krome detention center into the community over the weekend.