Cuba to try alleged migrant smugglers from U.S.

CNN 10 September 1998

Cuba to try alleged migrant smugglers from U.S.

                  HAVANA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Cuba said on Thursday it intended to try six
                  Florida-based men it captured at sea on suspicion of trying to smuggle illegal
                  immigrants from the communist-run Caribbean island into the United States.

                  The men, including five U.S. residents of Cuban origin, are being detained
                  after being intercepted by Cuban patrol boats during an apparent wave of
                  smuggling attempts this summer.

                  "They are being investigated and they will be taken to trial for this illegal
                  activity," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez said at a news
                  briefing.

He gave no more details of the capture of the men, their detention
conditions, or a timetable for trial.

The U.S. Coast Guard said last week that five Florida men had been caught
in Cuban waters on suspicion of smuggling immigrants.

                  Cuba and the United States broke off diplomatic relations soon after Fidel
                  Castro's 1959 revolution, but have been cooperating closely on immigration
                  issues.

                  The United States has this year been strictly upholding a 1995 immigration
                  accord and returning to Cuba scores of would-be escapees picked up at sea
                  or after landing. That has annoyed the vociferous Cuban-American
                  community in Florida, which claims many are being sent back to face
                  persecution.

Senior U.S. Coast Guard officials periodically visit the island to discuss
cooperation in enforcing the accord with Cuban authorities.

                  And, according to Gonzalez, the United States is holding another six people
                  suspected of smuggling immigrants across the 90-mile (144-km) strait
                  between the two countries.

                  "We are, of course, concerned about this situation and we understand that
                  the U.S. government should also be worried about the problem," added
                  Gonzalez. "We will try to take all the measures that depend on us to stop this
                  phenomenon."

                  While summer traditionally sees an increase in the number of Cubans trying
                  to flee for the United States -- many making the perilous trip across
                  shark-infested waters on rafts or in leaky boats -- this year has been marked
                  by organised smuggling attempts.

In June three men were charged in Miami with running a ring that charged
$8,000 a head for adults and $7,000 for children.

Their boat was intercepted several miles (km) off Cape Florida packed with
37 Cuban escapees.

                  Prior to Havana's announcement on Thursday that it would try six U.S.
                  residents, state media had already lashed the smuggling trade as an
                  "abominable" and "repudiable" phenomenon which "showed its corrupt face
                  from Florida."

                  Cuban refugees were awarded virtually automatic asylum in the United
                  States until new immigration laws were introduced in 1995 following a mass
                  exodus the previous year. Now, like other would-be emigrants to the United
                  States, Cubans must show they face persecution at home to avoid being sent
                  back.

                  The United States has repatriated more than 1,000 Cubans attempting to
                  enter illegally since the 1995 agreement, which also allows for at least
                  20,000 Cubans to emigrate legally each year.