European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse A Nten Home for thousands whether they i i be it or riot by Andrew Schneider Scripps Howard news service Santa Namo Bay naval base a 45-Square mile chunk of a Caribbean Island accommodates the fastest growing town in the hemisphere. But most of the newcomers Dpn t want to be Here. July s census of those who kept the . Fleet training and air station operating on the 90-year-old naval base included about 7,000 gis civilians arid dependents. By the end of last month at least a third of the base on the Southeastern tip of Cuba had been taken Over by newcomers. About 14,300 haitians some of whom have been detained since june were sharing their Sandy portion of America s oldest overseas military base with about 15,000 cubans. The population of refugees has continued to grow. Additionally about 3,700 soldiers marines airmen sailors and coast guard personnel and a handful of Justice department and immigration employees have been sent in to process and care for the detainees. Dependents were sent Back to the United states to make room for of the new arrivals Don t hide the fact that they d rather be somewhere else. I expected to be seeing the tall buildings of Miami not the Sierra Maestra mountains of Oriente province said Louis being orzo a 42-year-old teacher from Santiago i lived there he said pointing to the Dusty Brown mountains on the Western horizon. I would sit at Home and look Down at this base. Now i m Here looking Back up at my Home. Some things Are beyond understanding " three Miles separate the tent cities of the haitian and the cubans but the amenities Are identical 30 cots to a tent a diet of mostly Beans and Rice and the sweltering tropical heat and humidity. Most of the haitians have been held at the base since their deliverance from rickety overcrowded fishing boats intercepted by the . Military while trying to make the 600-Miie run to Florida. The cubans voyage was 90 Miles through the capricious Waters of the Florida Straits and most were seized from rafts and sailing vessels that would make Rube Goldberg appear a master shipbuilder. After seeing the concoctions that these people were floating on i m still amazed that so Many survived said Ensign Andy Jones As he watched the first of 797 cubans gingerly ease Down the gangplank of the frigate Jack Marine 1st if. Pefe Mitchell adjusts a Cap for a Young haitian refugee. Williams based in Pascagoula miss. I saw rafts made from refrigerator doors wired together with lamp Cord. There were six people trying to balance on a fishing net filled with plastic bottles. They re just Lucky we were there to save them said Jones a 32 year old engine officer from St. Louis to. Many of the cubans disagree. Most Are 400 Miles from where they began their escape Havana but still 400 Miles from where they want to go Miami. We did t need to be saved by the Navy. We just needed to be left alone. We would have made it to Florida. I know we would have said Jesus Rodriguez who described himself As a merchant with nothing to sell from Cabanas a coastal town due West of Havana. Helena his wife irritably disagreed we would be dead if the Amer cars did t pick us up. We hate cuban president Fidel Castro and what he has done to us but some things Are too treasured to risk she said clutching two Young girls to her Chest. Too valuable to risk for anything even Freedom she softly added As she hugged the children More tightly. Three tents away or. Gloria Vivo Inchan sat on her aluminium cot and watched her 10-year-old son Jorge eat his lunch of Black Beans and Rice. The 36-year-old physician from Havana said her anger is not with the Young gis who rescued her and her family nor those who care for her How. The soldiers Are doing their Job. I just wish president Clinton would do his she said. It was unfair of Clinton Vivo said to detain those including her family who had sailed from the Island before he suddenly changed the rules and halted the automatic political Asylum to cuban refugees that the last seven . President have permitted Many of us would not have come had we known of president Clinton s order. It is not fair to our children to live like this. It s not right said the immunologist one of 29 physicians in her Camp alone. Cuban women adrift in a raft await the arrival of a . Rescue vessel. The cubans express lip service mixed with genuine concern Over the plight of the haitians living in identical tents a few Miles away. Yet they Are emphatic about what they see As their right to escape to the United states. Yelling at visitors through coils of barbed wire Jose Louis Wegener quoted 30-year-old congressional decrees which granted cubans fleeing Castro a Welcome mat on the Florida shores. This is unconstitutional and we Don t understand Why president Clinton has done this and How he can get away with it Wegener scr earned. We Don t want to be in these Camps. We Don t need food. We need Edvardo Delgado a 31 year old biochemist and his _ cuban tent mates listened to. Wegener but expressed a different View. The need Delgado said is to convince Washington and the Public that they will not scrounge off the Good will of americans. We Are fleeing Castro and communism. We Are not fleeing our Home to beg off americans. We have relatives. We can and will work and be Good citizens. We want Freedom. We owe it to our Guante Narno haitian refugees play soccer in front of a Row of tents on the naval base. Gitmo7 unquestionably a base i Ike no other Guan Dynamo Bay naval base sits in a Broad Bay at the foot of the Sierra Maestra mountains. The mountains Block most rain from the station giving it a desert like terrain f by Cox news service q what is the history of Grant Snajdr of Bay a it was discovered on april 30, 1494, by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the new world. Columbus called the Bay Porto Grande because of its vastness. He anchored there and stayed overnight while searching for fresh water and Gold. Finding neither he traded trinkets for fish with the natives and sailed away on the morning tide. Q when did the . Role begin there a in 1898, during the Spanish american War the . Navy set up a base of operations in Guantanamo Bay for its Campaign against the Spanish in Santiago de Cuba 40 Miles to the West. Q How Long has the current base been in operation a since 1903, when the United states leased 45 Square Miles of land and water. From Cuba. The lease was reaffirmed by a treaty with Cuba in 1934. The lease payments Are $2,000 in Gold per year which the Navy said equates to about $4,085 today q exactly where is it a the arid naval station sits on the Southeast coast of Cuba near the Foothills of the Sierra Maestra mountains. It is about 400 air Miles from Miami and about 150 Miles from Haiti. The mountains keep most rain Guantanamo and the terrain is like a desert. Food and other supplies normally arrive week by Barge from Florida. Q after Fidel Castro s revolution established a communist regime in Cuba Why did t he kick the u.5. Military out of Guantanamo Bay a termination of the lease agreement Between the United states and Cuba requires the Mutual consent of both nations. In 1964, Castro Cut off the base s water Supply from the Pateras River. Since then sea water has been turned to drinking water at base desalination plants. Currently two distillation plants produce 1 million Gallons of water apiece each Day. New plants Are being built to Supply water for the growing number of refugees. A Are there any similar . Bases in other hostile territory. A no. Guan Amo Bay naval base is the Only . Military base in a communist country. It is the oldest . Overseas base. 0 q what did the us. Forces at Guantt Inamoto before the base became a refugee Camp a the base provides support and facilities for training the Navy s Atlantic Fleet. On one Side of the base there s an Airfield on the other Side a naval station. The two sides Are separated by the Bay which is 2vi Miles wide. A ferry crosses every hour. A in Normal times what Are living conditions like for the americans there a normally there Are about 7,000 permanent residents at the base nicknamed that includes 2,500 military personnel 2,500 military dependents and 2,000 civilian employees and dependents. The base has a commissary mall Heaters pools bal Fields a hardscrabble Golf course a Bowling Alley and several restaurants including a Mcdonald a there Are movies every night. There s a preschool child development Center elementary and High schools and College. The base sits by the Caribbean and the Blue Green water is Clear and warm. There is a Beach and fishing facilities. Q Howare the haitian and cuban refugees separated and Are conditions same for both groups a their Camps Are located a few Miles apart and Are enclosed by fences and concertina wire. Basically the conditions Are the same although facilities at the haitian Camp Are in place while cuban Camps Are still being expanded. Marine it Gen John Sheehan director of operations for. The joint staff at the Pentagon said we re actually taking the Opportunity to take some haitian Camp leaders and some cuban Camp leaders and taking them to the other Camps to show them that there is equal treatment on both q How Many refugees can be held on Guantanamo a no one knows or at least no one is saying publicly. Pentagon officials have talked about Camps for 45,000 cubans in addition to the nearly 15,000 haitians already at Guantanamo. In providing for the refugees the limiting factors Are our " ability to produce water electricity and handle sewage said Sheehan. So Guantanamo is getting More desalination plants electrical generators and sewage treatment facilities. 16 the stars and stripes the stars and stripes 17
