Cuba Ejects Thugs from Mexican Embassy, Outs Their Records Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [It seems all that Castaneda's and Radio Marti's provocation accomplished was to out a bunch of gusano thugs in Cuba. They have been ejected from the Mexican embassy and taken into custody, after Mexico made it clear they wanted nothing to do with their demand for "asylum." Cuba's national news agency, AIN, has published the records of some of the 21. Below, the execrable Andrew Cawthorne does his best to put a good face on it all. -- NY Tranfer] Reuters - Fri Mar 1,12:19 PM ET (via Yahoo) Cuba Expels Intruders From Mexico Embassy By Andrew Cawthorne HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban special forces entered the Mexican Embassy before dawn on Friday at Mexico's request and whisked off to an unknown destination 21 young men who had stormed the compound earlier this week in a hijacked bus. Mexico urged Cuba to give them "humanitarian" treatment. The men's fate was unknown but they were assumed to be in detention after the 10-minute operation -- during which muffled shouts could be heard behind police lines -- ended the two-day standoff at the mission, apparently with Mexico's blessing. "Today, at 4:30 a.m. (EST), a specialized and unarmed unit carried out the ejection in a planned manner, in keeping with the request and desire of the Mexican government, without the least incident," a Cuban government statement said. It did not say what would happen to the 21, where they were being held or how they had been ejected without force after their explosive entry on Wednesday night, riding a bus through the perimeter gate, and apparent determination to stay. A Mexican statement said none had requested diplomatic asylum or given evidence of persecution or risk to life. The Mexican Embassy would bring no charges against them, it said. In some similar cases in the past when Cubans have unsuccessfully sought to leave the island by forcing their way into diplomatic compounds, there have apparently been tacit agreements that they would not face reprisals after leaving. The men, who shouted slogans against Cuban President Fidel Castro from the embassy roof Wednesday night, had been hoping to start a new life in Mexico. But they were dismissed from the outset by Cuba as "anti-social criminals" and are now expected to face charges related to the bus-hijacking and forced entry. "We have no information about where they are, and we have not yet been able to locate their families," said local human rights' campaigner Elizardo Sanchez, who was seeking an urgent meeting with Mexican officials to discuss the fate of the 21. The Cuban communique said Mexico's special envoy for the crisis, Gustavo Iruega, the deputy foreign minister for Latin America and the Caribbean, and other Mexican diplomats, had repeatedly asked the intruders during meetings on Thursday to leave "as they had no real reason or right to stay there." Given their refusal, Mexico asked Cuba to eject them from the building "in a way which would avoid any physical harm to the intruders and with the use of minimal force," it added. The men were seen during the operation walking in an orderly line past an embassy window, accompanied by soldiers. They were not seen leaving, however, as police placed trucks and covers to block foreign correspondents outside the embassy from seeing the operation up close. The Mexican statement ratified word-for-word the Cuban communique, but added an appeal for fair treatment of the 21: "Given the assailants were induced and manipulated, Mexico has asked the Cuban authorities to take into account humanitarian factors in the treatment of their cases." SHADES OF 1980 PERU EMBASSY STORMING The 21 Cubans crashed through the embassy gate late on Wednesday, sparking scenes of chaos and violence in nearby streets between police and other mainly young people who had gathered hoping to enter the building. The situation was provoked by rumors Mexico was offering to take in Cubans who wanted to leave the island. Cuba says it arrested 150 people in Wednesday night's melee. The case recalled a string of incidents in recent decades, including in 1980 when some 10,000 people invaded the Peruvian Embassy, an episode touched off by a bus break-in in which a Cuban guard was killed. That crisis led Cuba to temporarily ease Cuba's strict limitations on emigration, prompting a famous exodus of some 125,000 refugees from the port of Mariel to the United States. With that and other incidents in mind, both Cuba and Mexico were eager to quickly defuse this week's situation. Mexico immediately said it was not considering the group asylum-seekers and wanted them to leave its premises, while Cuba insisted they were criminals incited from abroad. Cuba listed penal records of 13 of the 21 who, it said, responded to an "invitation to assault the embassy" by an anti- Castro, U.S. government-funded radio station, Radio Marti. Cuban authorities say Radio Marti maliciously broadcast an over-literal version of comments by Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda saying the embassy was "open" to all Cubans. Hundreds of young Cubans who gathered in nearby streets after hearing rumors Mexico was opening its doors to emigrants tried to follow in the bus' wake but were beaten back by police and chased away in a street battle. Dissidents -- and many young Cubans interviewed at the scene -- claim harsh economic conditions, restrictions on emigration and Castro's authoritarian one-party political system are the root causes for this week's incidents and the desire of so many on the island to leave. "Just let us go. I hate it here! Why can't I go where I want?" one youth, Pedro, told Reuters on Wednesday night as he milled outside the embassy minutes before the bus storming. Sanchez' rights' group, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, reported hundreds arrested around the embassy, and said the 21 who broke in may face severe reprisals if they were handed over unconditionally. Cuban-Mexican relations, traditionally warm, have been strained recently by Mexican President Vicente Fox's disapproval of Cuba's record on human rights and democracy. Castro, 75, has maintained a one-party system and outlawed opposition political groups since soon after his 1959 revolution. Cuba is the only communist system in the Americas. * source - Bill Koehnlein AIN, March 1, 2002 Cubans in Mexican Embassy Incident are neither Freedom Fighters nor "Dissidents of Conscience" It was inevitable that the US news media, especially in Miami, would portray the 21 individuals who crashed the fence at the Mexican Embassy in Havana as "freedom fighters" and "political dissidents" seeking asylum in Mexico. A brief review of this incident shows otherwise. 1. Earlier this week, Mexico's Foreign Minister, Jorge Castañeda, made a statement that the Mexican Embassy is open to all Cubans. 2. Radio Marti, the Miami-based and US Government-sponsored station, broadcast these remarks in a distorted and manipulative manner. The broadcast, repeated numerous times during the day on Wednesday, implied that Mexico would grant asylum to any Cubans seeking it. 3. On Wednesday, February 27, 21 individuals hijacked a city bus in Havana and crashed it through the fence of the Mexican Embassy. During the hijacking, several passengers were injured and required hospitalization. 4. The hijackers occupied the Mexican Embassy for several hours, until it was cleared out by Cuban police at the request of Mexican authorities. 5. The Government of Mexico has denied that it ever made an offer of asylum, and Castañeda has been quoted as saying that the hijackers "are not asylum-seekers... [T]hey haven't asked for asylum. They did not show any political motivation for entering the embassy." 6. At least 13 of the hijackers have a history of nonpolitical criminal activities, frequently involving violence and weapons. All of the evidence gathered so far indicates that these individuals are petty criminals and are not "dissidents of conscience", as some media reports would imply. Those involved in the incident, and a history of their cases, include: 1. Pedro Plasencia Achón - arrested for armed robbery, 1994 - tried for robbery, 1996 - arrested for robbery, 2000 2. Bismar Hechevarría Moreno - held for investigation, 2000 - arrested for robbery, 2000 - tried for armed robbery, 2001 3. Carlos Mateo López - cited for military crime while in service, 2001 4. Alexei Leal Carrera - tried antisocial conduct, 1998 - arrested for armed robbery, 2000 5. Osvaldo Ineraity Calvo - tried for theft of automobile parts, 1992 - served time for other robberies, 1992 6. Ramón Enrique Méndez Sosa, alias Burrundo - tried for assault on a public official, 1995 7. Reynaldo Abréu Alfonso - tried for armed robbery, 1993 8. Michel Iroy Rodríguez Ruiz - tried for possession of weapons, 1994 - tried for violating the immunity of a diplomatic mission, 1996 9. Henry Urrutia Pérez - tried for brawling in public, 2001 10. Darel Vasallo Barzola - served time for armed robbery, 1998 11. Yanset Miguel Sánchez Montalvo - served time for armed robbery, 2000 12. Yirban Gilberto Escobar Torres - fined for disturbing the peace, 1999 13. Serguey Cruz Rodríguez - served time for mugging, 1994 - tried for robbery, 1996 - tried for receiving stolen goods, 1996 - arrested for armed robbery, 1996 - served time for assault, 1997 - served time for assault and robbery, 1999 - tried for assault on a public official, 1999 - arrested for drug dealing, 2000 - tried for drug possession, 2000 - tried for assault, 2000 - arrested for armed robbery, 2001 Source: AIN; Granma digital, March 1, 2002 **************************************************************************** "Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism." --Martin Luther King, Jr. **************************************************************************** The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory http://www.toplab.org **************************************************************************** ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-03.01.02-14:49:35-3858