THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411200076
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
More than 2,000 Navy and Marine Corps dependents evacuated from the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in September will not be permitted to return to the base until at least next summer, Navy officials confirmed Saturday.
``Guantanamo Bay right now has tens of thousands of refugees, both Haitian and Cuban. There's a strain on the infrastructure down there. There are potential security problems. And there's no room,'' said Cmdr. Jim Kudla, a spokesman for the Bureau of Naval Personnel.
``It's not a pleasant situation.''
The decision, while not unexpected, was a blow to families who had hoped to be reunited in time for the Christmas holidays. ``It's a relief knowing, but a disappointment that families will not be allowed back on the base,'' said Judy Tennyson of Virginia Beach, whose husband is a communications officer at Guantanamo.
Others were less sanguine. ``I can't believe something like this could happen to us,'' said one Navy wife who asked to remain anonymous.
The dependents were ordered off the base in southeast Cuba at the end of August as Coast Guard and Navy ships brought in nearly 40,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees. The Caribbean migrants had set sail in homemade boats and rafts, hoping to reach the U.S. mainland, but were intercepted on orders from President Clinton.
More than 20,000 refugees remain in tent cities scattered across the base. The total has been declining since mid-October, when the return to power of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide induced many Haitians to go home voluntarily. Several thousand Cubans also have departed, accepting an American offer to relocate to camps in Panama.
A handful of Cubans have been returned to Havana, but slow negotiations between the U.S. and Cuban governments and litigation brought by Cuban-American activists in Florida have slowed those repatriations.
The Clinton administration reportedly is considering a plan that would permit roughly one-third of the Cubans still at Guantanamo to gain admission to the U.S.
The military dependents, scattered across the U.S. after the evacuation, began receiving phone calls Friday night from the Bureau of Naval Personnel to advise them of the decision to delay their return. A letter that all should receive on Monday from Vice Adm. Skip Bowman, the chief of naval personnel, will include additional details. Service members and dependents are being promised that no families will be involuntarily separated for more than 12 months. Single sailors and Marines also will not be assigned to Guantanamo for more than 12 months unless they request it.
``This whole thing has really screwed up our families . . .'' said one Navy wife. ``I loved it in Cuba. Our little boy loved it. . . .''
The woman said she's especially disappointed in the Clinton administration's lack of attention to the dependents' plight. She recalled seeing Clinton vacationing in Massachusetts last summer as she packed up a handful of possessions and prepared to leave Guantanamo.
``My only consolation,'' she said, ``is that (on Election Day) President Clinton got what was coming to him.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphics
WHOM TO CALL
The Bureau of Naval Personnel is maintaining a toll-free number,
1-800-255-3808 to answer dependents' questions.
GUANTANAMO AT A GLANCE
Options for Navy and Marine families:
Sit tight. Since being evacuated, many dependents have moved in
with families across the country or have set up housekeeping around
Hampton Roads. The Navy is paying each family a per diem to help
with expenses and will continue to do so at least through February,
Vice Adm. Skip Bowman promised. If conditions at Guantanamo improve,
they would be first in line to return.
Move on to their next duty station if they've received orders.
The Navy promised to expedite new orders for those who haven't
received them and want to relocate; no one will have to serve at
Guantanamo for more than 12 months, beginning Sept 1, 1994.
Other details:
The Navy will send about 15 detailers to Guantanamo in early
December to meet individually with sailors and review their options
for new assignments.
There will be two leave periods during the holiday season, one
from Dec. 13 to 28 and the other from Dec. 28 to Jan. 11
The Bureau of Naval Personnel is maintaining a toll-free number,
1-800-255-3808, to answer dependents' questions.
KEYWORDS: MILITARY BASES CUBA by CNB