THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409220461
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
The entry of American troops into Haiti is expected to solve part of the Clinton administration's refugee problem by allowing the military to empty camps for 14,000 Haitians at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Haitians' departure would leave about 30,000 Cuban refugees at the base, however. No end to their encampment is in sight.
A military spokesman said Haitians at Guantanamo have been ``singing and dancing'' in celebration of the American occupation; many already are asking how soon they can return home, said Marine Corps Lt. Pete Mitchell.
No date has been set for repatriations to begin.
Since troops began landing in Port-au-Prince on Monday morning, groups of Haitians at Guantanamo have been allowed to watch television coverage of the events on a large screen set up inside a former airplane hangar, Mitchell said. The Haitians also are getting news on the occupation from a base radio station and newspaper, Mitchell said.
``They want to know: When is Cedras leaving and when is Aristide coming?'' Mitchell said, referring to Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, leader of Haiti's governing junta, and Jean-Baptiste Aristide, the democratically elected president Cedras toppled in 1991.
Mitchell said many of the Haitians at Guantanamo are skeptical that there can be a smooth transition to democracy so long as their country's military remains in power. He said the camp was quiet Tuesday as the television broadcasts from Haiti showed some Haitians being beaten by police while American troops looked on.
Thousands of Haitians have been living in tents on a former airport runway at Guantanamo since early July. President Clinton ordered them sent there after canceling a policy that permitted Haitians picked up at sea to apply for admission to the United States as political refugees.
In the weeks before Clinton's order, thousands of Haitians embarked in homemade boats and rafts in hopes of reaching America. Many of those already have been repatriated, some at their request, but the military stopped the transfers this month in anticipation of a possible invasion.
The refugee influx at Guantanamo prompted the Navy to evacuate several thousand military dependents from the base just before Labor Day. No date has been set for their return, but a military source reaffirmed Wednesday that the Navy plans to move them back in and restore the base as a training facility for the Atlantic Fleet.
About 5,000 people normally live and work at Guantanamo.
KEYWORDS: HAITI by CNB