By The
Associated Press
Edited by Deb McAdams
News Digest
Thursday, August 25, 1994 Page 2
Cuban refugees swamp Guantanamo camp
WASHINGTON — Frustrated by a
relentless flood of boat people from
Cuba, the United States is rushing to
expand detention camps at Guantanamo
naval base for 40,000 or more refugees.
The administration warned reftigees
Wednesday they have no hope of being
allowed in the United States.
“They will absolutely, in no way,
have any way of coming to the United
States,” White House press secretary
Dee Dee Myers said as the administra
tion mounted an intense campaign to
persuade Cubans to stay home.
Officials said Cubans who flee their
country will be held indefinitely at
Guantanamo, a U.S.-leased base on
Cuba’s southeastern tip, or in safe ha
vens in third countries.
Senioradministrationofficialsstagcd
a midday news conference at the White
House to drive home the message that
Cubans should not risk the perilous, 90
milc flight for freedom across the chop
py Straits of Florida.
Defense Secretary William Perry
conceded the administration had failed
to convince Cubans so far.
“We have a flood of boat people on
the way to Guantanamo now,” the sec
retary said.
Since the United States halted auto
matic asylum for Cubans on Friday,
9.000 people have been picked up from
rickety boats and rafts and arc on their
way to Guantanamo or arc al ready there.
Perry said.
The Guantanamo base, sprawledovcr
45 square miles, has the capacity for
23.000 refugees now and will be ex
panded to handle 30,000 by week’send.
Perry said.
The camp already houses 14,000
Haitians who fled their country.
By the end of next week, Guantanamo
will be able to accommodate 40,000,
Perry said.
“We have significant capacity be
yond that and will expand beyond that,
if necessary,” he added.
The United States rejected Cuba’s
assertion that the only way to stop the
refugee exodus was for Washington to
hold direct talks with the Castro gov
ernment on lifting the economic embar
go against Havana.
“We see nothing to be gained” from
high-level talks. Undersecretary of State
Peter Tamoffsaid. “It should be clear
after 35 years to Fidel Castro and his
government that the way he has been
managing the affairs of the island is a
failure.”
Perry acknowledged fears Castro
might encourage thousands of Cubans
to flood through the gates of
Guantanamo, risking their lives across
a mine-filled no man’s land.
He said there arc no signs of that
happening now, but added, “We would
regard this as being an unfriendly act
toward the United States and would
take appropriate actions.”
Attorney General Janet Reno said
she wanted to dispel the belief among
some Cubans that they w ill be processed
for asylum in the United States if they
get to Guantanamo.
“They will not be coming to the
United States, and you should urge your
family not to make such trips,” Reno
said.
To people in Cuba, she implored,
“Do not risk your lives; it is too danger
ous. ... You arc going loGuantanamoor
to other safe havens and you will not be
processed - not be processed - for adm is
sion to the United States.”
She quashed the idea that Cubans
picked up at sea might be brought to
camps in the United States, a step closer
to their eventual goal.
“There will be no Cubans coming
from Guantanamo to the United States,
either to federal facilities or any other
place,” Reno said.
She said Cubans seeking asylum
should go through processing channels
in Havana.
“We arc looking at ways to expand
legal migration,” Myers said.
SAT scores closer
WASHINGTON — Girls arc
narrowing the gap with boys on the
SAT college entrance exam, but
they’re still far behind in math. Nei
ther sex is gaining much ground in
reading, possibly because so many
young people prefer TV to books.
The nation’s average score on the
verbal part of the Scholastic Assess
ment Test dropped one point this
SAT aver*”"0
1990-1904
n
J
L
Sauna: Cottage Board, 1904 AP
year, to 423, despite a slight gain in
girls’ verbal scores, test officials an
nounced Wednesday.
“Young people just don’t read
much anymore.” laments English
teacher Shirley Rau.
In math, the average score im
proved one point from last year, to
479, propelled by girls’ improve
ment.
“Women, happily, arc closing the
score gap with men,” said Donald M.
Stewart, president of the College
Board, the nonprofit group that spon
sors the tests.
Stewart called the overall trend
favorabte, noting that the percentage
of high school seniors who take the
test is growing. As the pool of test
takers grows, scores would be ex
pected to drop, he said.
Boys’ scores did drop this year in
both sections of the SAT, which was
taken by more than a m il 1 ion col lege
bound high school seniors. Itisscored
on a scale of200 to 800.
The gap between girls and boys
also narrowed this year on the other
major admissions test, the American
College Testing assessment. In gen
eral, students taking the ACT made
slight gains in math and science,
while English and reading scores
stayed the same as last year, accord
ing to results released Tuesday.
There was little change among
minority scores on either test. M inor
ily SAT scores have been gradually
improving since the College Board
began tracking them in 1976, offi
cials said.
Housing the refugees
The Clinton administration will expand
detention camps at Guantanamo to
house up to 40,000 refugees. To date:
■ 2,000 Cubans and 14,000 Haitians are
at Guantanamo. Another 7,000 Cubans I
are on their way. /
■ Capacity is now 23,000, and will / 1
be expanded to 30,000 later this /
week. The base will reach 40,000 L
capacity next week.
■ The U.S. may commit several dozen
more Marines, military police units, a
50-bed hospital and 125 support
personnel to feed the refugees.
Refuge* who slip by the patrote are taken
a federal detention center west of Miami.
^ ' % ''' '' '
Not a free ride
Under optimum wind and current condbons, a raft
fcavtog tha Cuba coast would mch Florida in about
three days. But the path it fraacharous, and
refugees are hampirad by tfwir prunitm crafts and
Golf waatfw In a compute modal mada by
Ufitastyof Miami scianfcte, after four day* only
htfOtfOf 600 farts had reached land. The tnp ts
'>fHgi|ii®lytoib «ix days, but fcwpaopto,
can^urviva that lonQtim
Source: AP research
AP
GOP ready to blockcrime bill
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders
searched Wednesday for a way to end
the stalemate over crime legislation as
President Clinton exhorted lawmakers
to “put away the excases” for inaction.
But even as Democrat George Mitchell
and Republican BobDolebandicdabout
ways to end an impasse that has kept the
Senate in an extraordinary late-sum
mer session, several senators vowed to
fight on.
“We’re going to win or we’re going
to go down with our colors flying," said
Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Missis
sippi. “We’re not going to get rolled."
Republicans have complained that a
House-Senate compromise bill now
before the Senate bears little resem
blance to a form of the legislation that
Eassed the chamber 94-4 last Novem
cr. They have threatened to ase a
procedural maneuver to thwart the
r
measure.
Democrats have said thatGOPcharg
es of “pork" spending are disingenuous
and have said the measure contains the
very kinds of crime-fighting programs
that law enforcement officers want.
For his part. President Clinton kept
up the pressure from the White House.
“Thisbill is centrist and bipartisan to
its very bone,” he told members of the
International ConvcntionofB’nai B’rith
in Chicago via satellite. “It’s time to put
away the excuses, the blame and the
politics and join forces and pass this
crime bill now.”
But on the Senate floor, and in the
cloakrooms, offices and corridors, the
principal question was which party.
Democrat or Republican, had the votes
to work its will. The existing crime bill
was passed by the House 235-195 on
Sunday, with 46 Republicans support
ing it.
Mitchell, D-Mainc, told colleagues,
“It’s clear a substantial majority of the
Senate would support the bill.”
But he also said he did not know if
enough Republicans would join the
Democrats to block a GOP procedural
move. The so-called “point of order" on
a budgetary question relating to the bill
would, if successful, undo the package
that had been painstakingly negotiated
in the House.
But Rcpublicaas, too, were hedging
their bets.
When Dole was asked if he had the
41 votes needed to uphold the procedur
al challenge, he said, “I hope I have. 1
think I have.”
Supporters of the bill would need to
muster 60 votes to turn back the chal
lenge.
_ —
NelJra&kan
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__ 1994 DAILY NEBRASKAN