Officials defend migration pact

  BY DAVID CISNEROS

  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 supports 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.