HAVANA -- (AFP) -- Cuba denied Thursday that it intends to open its borders and
 allow a massive exodus to the United States, the official newspaper Granma
 reported Thursday.

 An editorial in the Communist Party daily acknowledged that there is growing
 support and ``radicalization'' for Cuba opening its borders in response to the delay
 in returning 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba and to protest a U.S.
 law that favors illegal Cuban immigration.

 The daily said that ``many'' people in Miami are hoping for an imminent ``massive
 exodus,'' similar to the Mariel boatlift in 1980 that created a crisis between
 Washington and Havana.

 ``But no one has said that Cuba has made one single move in that direction,'' the
 daily said. ``On the contrary, it is thanks to the special forces in our country that
 there is control on the coasts'' and the number of immigrants is not greater.

 ``We have captured dozens of people who traffic in illegal immigrants, and if they
 are guilty, they could spend some 30 years or life in prison.''

 The paper also claimed that U.S. authorities ``have not arrested anyone
 responsible for breaking their laws.''

 On Tuesday, in another Granma editorial, Cuba accused the United States of
 violating bilateral migration accords signed in 1994-95 meant to crack down on
 illegal emigration from Cuba by allowing those that reach U.S. soil to stay.

 In the summer of 1994, Cuba opened its borders and more than 30,000 people
 fled the island in fragile rafts in attempts to reach U.S. shores.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald