THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180272
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
The Navy will move its principal Atlantic Fleet training center from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Mayport, Fla., this summer, leaving the historic Cuba base to serve mainly as a tent city for refugees from the island's Communist government.
An Atlantic Fleet spokesman confirmed the plan Monday, saying the fleet training operation will be relocated to Mayport effective July 15. The move had been expected since March, when the service disclosed it to members of Congress and then withdrew the announcement as premature.
The service also is shutting down an engineering training operation at Guantanamo and transferring its functions to Mayport, said the spokesman, Senior Chief Petty Officer Ted Brown.
Brown said the changes were sparked by uncertainty over how long the Guantanamo base will have to do double duty as a refugee camp. The relocation will save money as well as cut the transit time of ships headed to and from training cruises, he added.
About 23,000 Cubans are living in tents scattered around the Guantanamo compound in southeast Cuba; their presence has strained the base's water and sewer systems and led the Navy last fall to evacuate the spouses and children of service personnel.
With the shift to Mayport, personnel assigned to the fleet training group will be able to live with their families again, Brown said.
The Cuban refugees were brought to Guantanamo last summer by Navy and Coast Guard ships that intercepted their boats and rafts as they tried to cross the 90-mile strait between their island and the southern coast of Florida.
The Clinton administration initially said none of the refugees would be admitted to the United States. It since has retreated a bit, allowing in families with children if they have U.S. sponsors.
The fleet training group consists of just 10 officers and 81 enlisted personnel stationed at Guantanamo, but its work touches thousands of sailors, airmen and Marines who operate with the Atlantic Fleet and who have traveled to Guantanamo regularly for training cruises.
Brown said shifting the training operation to Mayport will not require the transfer of any ships or commands already assigned there.
Except for a supply center, the transfers will leave little military activity at Guantanamo, the nation's oldest foreign military facility and the only one in a Communist state.
More than 6,000 troops have been moved to the base to build and run the refugee facilities. The Pentagon also has announced a search for a private contractor to take over management of the refugee camps.
The 45-square-mile site originally was leased from the Republic of Cuba in 1903 as a coaling station for Navy ships. The lease agreement can be terminated only by mutual agreement of the countries, or by the United States abandoning the base.
KEYWORDS: U.S. GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE U.S. NAVY by CNB