Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 20, 1994                   TAG: 9408220084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

CUBAN REFUGEES INTERCEPTED

Alarmed by a growing exodus of Cubans to south Florida in rickety boats, Clinton ordered the Coast Guard - backed up by the Navy - to intercept the refugees at sea and take them to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From there, the administration hopes to relocate them quickly to other countries in the region.

Refugees who make it to U.S. shores will be detained and have their cases reviewed for eligibility to remain.

The administration refused to say how long the refugees would be held or what their eventual fate would be. ``We will address those issues down the line,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said.

The sudden about-face in policy was intended to prevent a recurrence of the 1980 Mariel boatlift, which brought 125,000 Cubans to the United States, overwhelming schools, law enforcement and social service agencies and deepening Jimmy Carter's political problems.

Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat who faces a tough re-election battle in November, welcomed Clinton's move.

But Florida's two senators - Democrat Bob Graham and Republican Connie Mack - said Clinton was too vague and did not address what they see as the primary problem - Castro. ``The policy seems to be punish the rafters as opposed to punishing Fidel,'' Mack said.

Clinton, at an East Room news conference, said Americans ``do not want to see another Mariel boatlift. They do not want to see Cuba dictate our immigration policy. They do not want to see Mr. Castro able to export his political and economic problems to the United States.''

House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich denounced Clinton's action. Gingrich charged that the administration had lost its ``moral compass'' by changing the policy that, since 1966, has routinely allowed Cubans into the United States after brief interviews with immigration officials.

There also were cries of betrayal in Miami, home of the largest Cuban population outside of Havana.

``These people have been through hell in the ocean and putting up with Castro,'' said Jack Canalejo, waiting with his wife for two cousins who left Cuba on a raft Wednesday. ``Now they have put up with all this, and they can't even see their family.''