By ANITA SNOW, ASSOCIATED PRESS

HAVANA (AP) - The top U.S. diplomat here warned Cubans Wednesday night that anyone using hijackings to reach the United States would be prosecuted, imprisoned and then ejected from the country.

The tough comments by James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, in an unprecedented televised message on communist-run television, underscored U.S. alarm that a pair of hijackings this week - a plane and a ferry - could spur a migration crisis.

No other top U.S. diplomat here in recent memory has ever asked the Cuban media to broadcast a message from the U.S. government. The same message was expected to be published in the Communist Party daily Granma on Thursday, American officials said.

Fidel Castro's government has periodically broadcast and published similar warning messages when it senses a migration crisis is brewing.

Such rumors began surfacing on Wednesday in the wake of the recent hijackings.

"Such acts are extremely serious violations of international law and of U.S. law," Cason said in comments read by an announcer in Spanish. "Any individual of any
nationality, including Cuban, who hijacks an aircraft or vessel to the United States will be prosecuted with the full force of the U.S. legal system," it added.

"The individual convicted of such offenses can expect to serve lengthy sentences," said the message. "Once convicted of such an offense the individual, including a Cuban, would be rendered permanently ineligible for lawful permanent residence in the U.S."

The statement came during dramatic negotiations on the high seas, where both Cuban and American authorities late Wednesday were still trying to persuade the hijackers of a Cuban passenger ferry with 50 people aboard to give up their fight to travel to the United States. The ferry hijackers, armed with three pistols and at least one knife, have threatened to throw people overboard if not allowed to continue their planned trip to the United States, Cuban officials say.

Cason on Monday night had tried to persuade the hijacker of a Cuban passenger plane at Havana airport to surrender but the hijacker forced the plane to fly to Florida. Adermis Wilson Gonzalez, 33, was arrested and is expected to be charged with hijacking, which carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison, according to U.S. officials.

Also facing U.S. federal hijacking charges are six Cuban men arrested after the hijacking of a Cuban passenger plane to Key West two weeks ago.

"On behalf of the U.S., I reaffirm my government's commitment that only safe, legal and orderly migration take place from Cuba to the U.S.," Cason's statement read.