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

DATE: FRIDAY, August 26, 1994                   TAG: 9408260080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NEWSDAY
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.S. TO EXPAND REFUGEE CAMPS, NOT TALK TO CUBA

Rejecting Havana's requests to negotiate political differences, the Clinton administration Thursday chose to handle the flood of Cuban boat people by expanding tent camps at the Guantanamo naval base and beefing up the military force there.

Reservists might be called up to help handle the human tide.

The buildup is expected to require a tripling of personnel - as many as 6,000 joining the roughly 3,000 already at ``Gitmo'' as the military expands the refugee camp capacity to 60,000 people.

``This is essentially a small city,'' said Marine Lt. Gen. John Sheehan, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He cited a ``distinct possibility'' that members of U.S. military reserve units would be needed to augment the force.

At the same time, Undersecretary of State Peter Tarnoff turned down requests voiced by Cuban leader Fidel Castro for high-level negotiations on easing the three-decade-old U.S. economic embargo of Cuba.

In a Wednesday night speech Castro blamed the embargo for the wave of refugees, the largest since the 125,000-person Mariel boatlift of 1980.

``We are not looking for a way to establish a dialogue on political matters with the Cuban government,'' Tarnoff said, also dismissing a suggestion from Mexican President-elect Ernesto Zedillo that Mexico could serve as an intermediary in U.S.-Cuban talks.

Tarnoff said Washington does not want to ``divert Castro's attention from the real issue'' of internal democratic and economic reforms. Negotiating with Castro would amount to an unacceptable U.S. admission that ``we bear some responsibility for the situation in Cuba,'' Tarnoff said.

President Clinton and Tarnoff reiterated U.S. willingness to resume low-level talks with Havana on migration problems that have been held roughly twice a year since 1984. A U.S. suggestion last week for such talks has drawn no Cuban response.

``We must not let any nation ... control the immigration policy of the United States and violate the borders of the United States,'' Clinton said.

On Capitol Hill, however, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that ``some open negotiations with Castro makes sense. It's anachronistic not to do it.''

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a senior Republican on the Foreign Relations panel, said, ``The administration is going to have to deal with Fidel Castro and with the Cuban government - not in a sense in which they say, in essence, `All is forgiven.'''

Sheehan said 5,498 Cubans were on the naval base Thursday and 7,022 more were en route.

A rescue flotilla of more than 70 navy and Coast Guard ships picked up about 1,000 Cuban rafters by noon Thursday, but foul weather kept many ``balseros'' from leaving Cuban beaches.

In addition to the Cubans, 14,500 Haitian refugees are housed at a separate Guantanamo camp.

by CNB