THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408230623
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL STATION, CUBA LENGTH: Long : 131 lines
Having fled a dictator who exploited his labor, Pedro Pablo Valdes tried coming to grips Monday with an American government ``playing with our lives.''
The 28-year-old Havana teacher had joined thousands of countrymen on small boats and rafts - many no more than inner tubes lashed together - in hopes they would be carried to friends, family and freedom in America, just 90 miles away.
But by Friday, when a patrolling U.S. Coast Guard cutter picked up Valdes, ``everything was turned around,'' he complained.
Under pressure from Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles and desperate to head off a repeat of the Mariel boatlift that brought 125,000 Cubans to Florida in 1980, President Clinton ordered Valdes and other refugees from Fidel Castro's regime shipped to this Navy outpost at the southeast tip of the island.
More than 900 Cubans had arrived at Guantanamo by midday Monday, and another 500 were expected to alight from Coast Guard cutters by day's end. In the Florida Straits, 700 miles northwest of the base, the Navy and Coast Guard picked up another 1,300-plus Cubans.
With 14,000 refugees from the neighboring island of Haiti already baking in the Caribbean sun on an old airport runway, a military task force spent the weekend putting up tents for the Cubans at a site several miles away.
The U.S. Atlantic Command, based in Norfolk, has told camp commanders to prepare for up to 10,000 Cuban migrants. The command has sent more tents to house them and barbed wire to keep them in the tent communities.
The work continued Monday as refugees arrived - tired, hungry and haggard from what for some was a week or more on the open seas. Their relief at being rescued was mixed with confusion about their fate and resentment at twists of U.S. politics that have pushed them further than ever from freedom.
``Why here? Why here? I want to be there - in the U.S.,'' Antonio Fernandez, a math professor said in broken English.
He is not exactly angry with Clinton, Fernandez insisted, but he is bewildered. ``Clinton is not guilty,'' he said. ``But . . . I don't know.''
For others, the detour to Guantanamo has made them angry at the Americans and sorry about their decisions to go to sea.
Orlando Monssrrat, 50, would not have left had he known that Clinton would change U.S. policy to send him to Guantanamo rather than Miami.
The taxi driver and refrigeration technician from Havana fled for a chance at prosperity. With fuel selling for 200 pesos per gallon and rice for 50 pesos per pound at home, the 390 pesos he was earning each month weren't enough.
Monssrrat spent five days at sea on a raft with a dozen other men. Their outboard motor quit not long after they set out, he said, so they rowed north with makeshift paddles until the Coast Guard came along. Despite hurricane season, the seas were calm and he never worried about dying.
Monssrrat has two sons in Florida and still figures he'll get there some day. U.S. troops said many of the refugees showed a similar determination, saying they will wait at Guantanamo until a third country is willing to accept them while their bids for U.S. entry are considered.
Jorge Guardia would spend 30 years at Guantanamo rather than go back to Havana. ``My object is to try to go to the U.S.,'' he said.
For a few of the refugees, the shift in U.S. policy seemed to magnify their anger at Castro rather than turn them against Clinton.
``Look at what that one man has done,'' fumed Ronald Rodriguez Mena, 19, who said he has been trying to get away from his homeland since he was 14. After almost 35 years of communism, ``Cuba has nothing,'' he said. If America would accept everyone who wants to leave, the masses ``would take Castro out and drown him in the sea, like lots of their brothers who he drowned at sea.''
The immediate concern Monday for many refugees is to let relatives at home and in the United States know they are safe. They pushed scraps of paper with Florida addresses and phone numbers into the hands of troops and reporters, asking for help in locating loved ones.
Such concerns, along with the soccer fields, basketball courts and beach outings the Americans will provide, should keep the Cubans busy for awhile. But some of the U.S. troops worried that the new guests soon will get restless.
In the past two weeks, groups of Haitians twice have begun demonstrations that turned violent, in one case causing injuries to almost two dozen U.S. troops. Military spokesmen said boredom was the problem and promised to schedule more classes and recreation.
The Cubans seem more prone to question authority, said Army Sgt. Robert Rothrock, part of a military police contingent from Northern Virginia's Fort Belvoir.
Confine them too long, he said, and ``I can foresee trouble.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by AP and MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
ABOVE: Cuban refugees line the bow of a U.S. Coast Guard cutter,
Courageous, as the ship enters Guantanamo Bay Naval Station on
Monday. FAR LEFT: Senior Airman Marvin Lewis of Panama City, Fla.,
pours water for Roberto Santorez, left, and Javier Gonzalez shortly
after they reached the base at Guantanamo. LEFT: In Camp Hunt - the
processing area for Cuban and Haitian refugees - Jose Ramos Mico
carries his daughter, Nivri Ramos Piedra, 2.
Refugee Roberto Tongas reflects on his predicament.
Photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
A Cuban refugee appears apprehensive upon his arrival Monday
afternoon at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. He had been picked up at
sea by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Courageous.
Graphic
CARIBBEAN DUTY
Ships involved in U.S. missions off Haiti and Cuba.
OPERATION ABLE VIGIL (CUBA) Guided missile frigate Samuel Elliott
Morrison, Charleston, S.C.
Guided missile frigate Taylor, Mayport, Fla.
Guided missile frigate Stark, Mayport.
Guided missile frigate Klakring, Charleston.
Guided missile frigate Oliver Hazard Perry, New York.
Guided missile frigate Gallery, Pascagoula, Miss.
Guided missile frigate Fahrion, Charleston.
Guided missile cruiser Vicksburg, Mayport.
Dock landing ship Whidbey Island, Norfolk.
OPERATION SUPPORT DEMOCRACY (HAITI) Coastal patrol craft Cyclone,
Norfolk.
Coastal patrol craft Tempest, Norfolk.
Destroyer Arthur W. Radford, Norfolk.
Amphibious assault ship Wasp, Norfolk.
Amphibious transport dock Nashville, Norfolk.
Military Sealift Command Kanawa.
Kootenay, Canada.
KEYWORDS: CUBA REFUGEES by CNB