European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday August 21,1994 cuban refugees the stars and stripes pages influx set . Policy on new course by Robert Burns the associated press Washington the refugee crisis in the Caribbean which began in june with Waves of haitian boat people has grown far More complicated and politically potent with the sudden exodus to Florida of thousands of cubans. Here Are some questions and answers to help explain the crisis q Why not just let the cubans in a it has been . Practice for nearly three decades to do just that but the numbers were relatively Small except for the Marfel boat lift of 1980, during which 125,000 cubans reached . Shores in five month period. President Clinton said Friday that he is shifting policy because this month s exodus amounts to an at tempt by Fidel Castro to Export his Trou Bles to this country. Also Florida gov. Lawton Chiles declared a state of emergency and asked for Federal help. Q what s going to happen to the cuban refugees now a Clinton said those picked up at sea by . Coast guard or Navy ships will be taken to the us. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay which happens to be situated on cuban soil near the South Eastern tip of the Island. Immediately after the change in . Policy was announced thursday night hundreds of newly arrived cuban refugees in Florida were taken to a detention Center i Miami. Those who Are detained will have their cases reviewed for eligibility for Asylum. Q Why was the cuban immigrant policy so Liberal for so Long a because it was born during the cold War. In name it is the 1966 cuban adjustment act which made it possible for illegal immigrants from Cuba not to be returned to the communist nation. They were Given special immigration opportunities because their escape represented a kind of propaganda Victory for washing ton. But that was in the Days when Cuba was a client state of the former soviet Union and considered a serious National Security threat to the United states. Q will the fleeing cubans now be treated the same As haitian refugees a attorney general Janet Reno said Friday that the two groups of refugees will be treated the same in the sense that the ., government s aim is to assure their safety. Officials said cubans picked up at sea and taken to Guantanamo Bay will not be considered for political Asylum in the United states they will be kept there until arrangements Are made to Send them to third countries in the re Gion. The cubans other option would be to return Home voluntarily. Haitians taken to Guantanamo since june have not been eligible for entry to the United states. At the moment their Only option is to. Stay indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay or return Home. There Are about 14,700 haitians now Aguanta Namo. Q Why Are cubans and haitians so anxious to get out of their countries a the haitians Are escaping both eco nomic misery and political repression under the military regime of it. Gen. Raoul Cedras who took control after elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide was ousted in september 1991. In the Case of Cuba people in Home made rafts and Leaky boats have been making the perilous 90-mile crossing to Florida in growing numbers since aug. 5,-when Castro threatened another Mariel scale exodus after the worst rioting of his 35-year Rule. Q can t cubans and haitians gain Legal entry to the United states any other Way a yes cubans can apply for Asylum while still inside Cuba As can haitians i Haiti. Reno said nearly 3,000 cubans a year win Asylum this Way. Haitians have done it this Way too but at the moment there Are hundreds in Haiti approved for entry to America who cannot leave be cause Cedras won t allow it. Q. Where will the cubans be kept at Guantanamo Bay a the Pentagon said plans Call for setting up two tent cities for the cuban with a capacity of 10,000 people. They will be held in an area on the base several Miles from the unused Airfield where the haitians Are. Families Hunt for relatives As Gates close key West Fla. A Jack Canalejo searched for his cousins in key West and Miami but found no news of the two Young men who left Cuba two Days ear Lier on a raft. I m scared that they re not going to make it Canalejo said Friday waiting outside the Gates of a Feder Al detention Center where 322 cubans including 53 children were being held. The detainees were among the few who got into the United states after president Clinton announced that cuban refugees would no longer receive preferential treatment and would have to apply for political Asylum like everyone else. Yellow school buses took them Friday from key West where thousands of cuban boat people have arrived this year after making the perilous 90-mile sea crossing to the Krome detention Center West of Miami. They will be housed in Olive drab Canvas tents that workers began erecting Friday. With the tents the Center will be Abuelo hold 1,000 people or More. These cubans have been through so much Canalejo said. They risk their lives for Freedom and now they re going to be detained if the cubans had arrived a Day earlier they might have been released after Only cursory interviews. Instead families waited outside Chain link fences topped by barbed wire hoping to hear their relatives names on a list read by immigration officials. We re very Happy and excited said 7-year-old Beatrix Comesanas upon learning that her Grandfather and 10 other relatives were in Krome. She will be Able to visit them for about seven hours a Day beginning today. At a privately run refugee Center near key West tearful but Happy reunions and sorrowful tales continued until Joel Lasarte of Havana is reunited after 11 years with his brother Felipe Back to the camera at the cuban refugee Center in key West Fla., on thursday. The coast guard picked up Joel Lasarte with 49 other refugees off Florida. Late thursday night As the coast guard released 300 to400 cubans each Day before the change in policy. Among the last arrivals were three Brothers who had not seen their father since he fled to the United states in the Mariel boat lift 14yearsago. All three picked up by the coast guard from an inner tube raft tried to hug their father at the same time. Papa papa of god it s so Good to see you said Miguel Boza 29. An aunt fainted while embracing her nephews. Cuba from Page 1 by Florida gov. Lawton Chiles and cuban american officials who met with the president Friday night and returned to the White House for consultations sat urday. Chiles said the actions sent a message that there s some Price to pay for Castro s efforts to Export his problems to the United states. I think what these Steps mean is that we will be closer to a democratic system in Cuba predicted Jorge Mas Canosa chairman of the cuban american National foundation. However rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen a Florida re publican who was born in Havana told can s news maker saturday that Clinton still had not gone far enough calling his action too Little too  the Steps Clinton announced saturday include a cutoff of Cash remittances to Cuba. Currently american households can Send $300 a Quarter to cuban citizens. Under the new policy All Cash pay ments will be Cut off unless specifically authorized by the Treasury department for humanitarian reasons. I addition family gift packages will be limited to medi Cine food and humanitarian items. Remittances Are believed to be in the Range of $500 million a year. New limits on charter flights Between Cuba and the United states. This will put a halt to All Charters except those designed to conduct official business transport Legal immigrants and repatriate cubans. Charters that would be Cut off would include trips by cuban americans to visit family and travel by academics journalists and others with professional inter ests in Cuba. Currently flights average about one a Day. -. -.-. Increased and amplified International broadcasts in Cuba this would involve increased use of Broad casts by radio Marti and to Marti into Cuba and stronger broadcasts from american ec-130 aircraft to overcome stepped up jamming efforts by Castro. Efforts to focus the United nations and other International organizations on human rights abuses in Cuba