Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
A Pentagon official said the military was considering sending additional medical and security personnel to deal with the influx of refugees at the base, which normally houses about 5,000 military and civilian workers and their dependents.
Defense Secretary William Perry, appearing Tuesday on several morning television shows, called the remote, 45-square-mile base ``basically a holding camp'' and an ``unattractive proposition'' designed to discourage people from leaving Cuba.
``There's nothing, really, for them to do at Guantanamo. It'll be a boring and frustrating activity, which is again one of the reasons we're urging the people not to leave,'' Perry said.
U.S. officials already have had to put down disturbances by frustrated Haitian refugees at Guantanamo. On Aug. 13, about 750 Haitians rioted, and 20 American military police and 45 Haitians were injured in the four-hour melee. Some Haitians also have staged brief hunger strikes and nonviolent demonstrations.
Some 14,000 Haitians are being housed there.
Concerned about the continuing outflow of refugees, President Clinton summoned his top foreign policy advisers to the White House to consider contingencies for stronger action against the Castro government.
The group reaffirmed the U.S. position that refugees will not be allowed to enter the United States, instead going first to Guantanamo and then on to ``safe havens'' in other nations, said press secretary Dee Dee Myers.
``We're convinced we have the capacity to handle the outflow,'' Myers said.
In addition, at the request of Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, Clinton dispatched a delegation to south Florida to assess efforts to cope with Cuban refugees detained there.
At Guantanamo, the U.S. manpower commitment could be expanded to include several dozen more Marines to secure the perimeter, military police units to maintain order inside the camps, an additional 50-bed field hospital and about 125 support personnel to feed the refugees.
A total of 2,548 Cubans were picked up by the Coast Guard on Monday and 5,883 since Clinton on Friday announced that fleeing Cubans no longer would be admitted as political refugees.
by CNB