Cuba accused of denying U.S. exit permits
■ Secretary of State charges
Cuba with inhumane behavior
for refusing to let its citizens
migrate to Amerka.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright
accused Cuba on Monday of
arbitrarily denying exit permits
to Cubans with U.S. visas,
thereby separating families and
forcing would-be immigrants
to attempt high-risk escapes by
boat
In a statement, Albright said
Cuba's actions violated agree
ments with the United States,
international standards and
“fundamental human decen
cy.”
She said she ordered a for
mal protest lodged with Cuba’s
diplomatic office in
Washington.
“The government of Cuba is
increasingly obstructing the
safe, legal and orderly migra
tion of individuals from Cuba,”
Albright said. /
Disclosure of the diplomat
ic note, containing u.o. cnarges
of inhumane behavior, follows
a protracted and touchy U.S.
dispute with Cuban Americans
over 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez.
The boy was taken from
Cuba by his mother, who died
at sea, and taken home by his
father after a lengthy legal bat
tle with emigre relatives in
Florida.
The Cuban government
cited the incident in June when
it indefinitely suspended immi
gration negotiations with the
United States.
Unlike Elian and his moth
er, the 117 Cubans cited in the
U.S. complaint had visas to go
to the United States but were
prevented from leaving Cuba.
In 16 cases, the denial sepa
rated families, while in 17
cases, physicians and other
professionals were blocked
from leaving, said Philip
Reeker, a State Department
spokesman.
The diplomatic note alleged
that Cuba had not abided by a
1994 agreement seeking to
establish ground rules for the
orderly migration of 20,000
Cubans plus family members to
me unitea states.
The note was handed to
Fernando Remirez, chief of the
Cuban diplomatic mission in
Washington, and also was
delivered to the Cuban foreign
ministry in Havana.The Cuban
mission offered no immediate
reaction to the specific accusa
tion.
However, spokesman
Roberto Garcia criticized U.S.
policy as criminal, immoral and
discriminatory, saying the
United States was responsible
for deaths at sea because it
encouraged Cubans to try to
reach U.S. shores, knowing they
would be warmly received.
“Most people who come
here know once they reach
American soil they will be
granted benefits other immi
grants don’t get,” Garcia said.
The U.S. note said 117
Cubans from 57 families had
been denied exit permits by the
Cuban government in a recent
75-day period. The United
States had granted all of them
visas.
A senior State Department
official said Coast Guard per
sonnel recently have picked up
“Most people who
come here know once
they reach American
soil they will be
granted benefits
other immigrants
don’t get."
Roberto Garda
Cuban spokesman
an increasing number of fleeing
Cubans who have U.S. travel
documents. Established proce
dures require that Cubans
intercepted by the Coast Guard
be returned to the island.
The note said the recent
death of two fleeing Cuban
brothers “highlights the grow
ing propensity of Cubans
denied the means to migrate in
a safe, orderly and legal fashion
to risk their lives in desperate
sea voyages.*
The brothers were victims
of a shade attack in the Florida
Straits.
World War II memorial plans
denounced in Washington, D.C.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON—Plans for a
World War II memorial on
Washington’s National Mall were
denounced as a meaningless trib
ute at a public hearing Monday.
President Clinton has already
dedicated the site for the plaza,
between the Washington
Monument and the Lincoln
Memorial, and preliminary
designs have won approval from
die FineArts Commission and the
National Capital Planning
Commission.
But Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt has the authority to reject
the plans. t
The Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation is expected
to give Babbitt its nonbinding
decision this week.
IWo dozen citizens joined
groups opposed to the memorial
and its site at the council’s
Monday hearing. The longest and
most elaborate denunciation of
the plans came from Judy Scott
Feldman, co-chairwoman of the
National Coalition to Save our
Mall
“The proposed World War II
Memorial design is meaningless
as a tribute to theWorld War n vet
erans and national sacrifice, valor
and victory,” she said.
"Its masonry surfaces, arches
and pillars are dehumanizing. The
stories of citizen soldiers, ordinary
Americans who contributed at
every level of society, are absent”
Chairman J. Carter Brown of
the Fine Arts Commission told the
Council the plaza’s design had
improved over the past three
years.
He emphasized the signifi
cance of World War n in history
and pointed to the memorials in
the capital to Presidents Lincoln,
Grant and Civil War generals.
A&M won t see bonfire this season
TheBattaBon
Texas am university
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -
Texas A&M’s 90-year-old tradi
tion has been put on hiatus after
die university president said the
storied bonfire wouldn't happen
until at least2002.
Ttexas A&M President Ray M.
Bowen this summer said signifi
cant changes would be made to
the building process, including
greater university supervision
and a professionally engineered
design.
"Bowen received thousands
of e-mails and letters with opin
ions about what should happen
to Bonfire,” said Malon
Southeria, vice president of stu
dent affairs. “We tried to respond
to most of them.”
I
Since then, three committees
have been formed — one to
honor those killed and injured in
the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse,
one to plan an event for this year
and one to suggest a permanent
bonfire structure.
Prior to the release of Bowen’s
decision, a group of students cir
cled a petition supporting the
continuation of bonfire and
gathered 10,000 to 12,000 signa
tures. During the summer,
Southerland said some members
of the group met with him to dis
cuss their efforts to create an off
campus bonfire. Southerland
said he told the group that any
off-campus bonfire would not be
supported by die university, and
students participating may face
punishment if they proceed with
plans for the off-campus bonfire.
The bonfire planning com
mittee, a committee of die facul
ty senate, stressed the need to
reform the bonfire at an open
forum of last spring.
“It was the opinion of the
planning committee that bonfire
should not occur in 2000 and
should not occur in its present
form in the future," said
Jonathan Smith, chairman of die
committee.
Thousands of people attend
the bonfire each year. But this
year, in place of the bonfire, there
will be a yell practice and a
memorial for the 12 students
who died and the 27 who were
injured in the collapse.
An additional committee was
appointed in February to create a
long-term memorial for the 1999
Aggie Bonfire collapse.
SKIP , D
the LECTURE We make
^ BANKING
w by
Spyworks■ I
I _ OPEN 24 HOURS I
^■ggggSpsgp^^^H £/?££ ll
computer time ||
Bopy works? ll
OHM OPEN 24HOURS ■■
^^fJ20QSM/ncofr^77-7400
14* self-serve
Bopyworks? ll
■ Bi OPEN 24 HOURS
1420 Q »., Lincoln • 477-7400
\™J°L% >25%37f~~~~~4
with student ID
| 477-7400 | frywork* i|
| Fax 477-8966 1320 Q SI.. Uncoln "^477-7400 JI