Potential for Good

The settlement of the Cuban prisoner riots with the release of the hostages, none harmed physically in the ordeal, was in no small way a result of the restraint and steadiness of federal officials who handled the negotiations.

The prisoners do not appear to have gained anything of substance. They are assured a case-by-case review before the final disposition of each deportation order. But they still face the likelihood that they will be returned to Cuba in conformity with immigration laws and with a bilateral agreement between Havana and Washington.

There is no accurate way to measure the number of prisoners who led the riot, who wreaked havoc --destroying the federal detention center at Oakdale, La., and controlling for 11 days the federal penitentiary at Atlanta. Under the terms of the settlement, they will not be prosecuted for what they have done. This is the price that the federal government must pay for the safe release of the 116 persons who were held hostage and for its failure to be prepared.

The new immigration agreement with Cuba is a good one, restoring the agreement of December, 1984, in which Cuba agreed to take back 2,746 so-called “undesirable” emigrants, criminal and mentally ill Cubans who had been part of the massive exodus of about 125,000 Cubans from Mariel in 1980. The agreement was ruptured by Cuba in May, 1985, in retaliation for the initiation of broadcasts by Radio Marti, the U.S.-sponsored propaganda and news service beamed at Cuba.

The resumption of the agreement also means that Cubans who qualify either for preference visas or for family-reunion status will once again be free to come to the United States. The quota of Cuban preference visas this year is 20,000, and thousands more immediate family members also are expected to qualify for visas.

The agreement to resume the exchange was negotiated in Mexico at a two-day meeting in November between Cuban and U.S. emissaries. Prisoners, so directly affected by the deportation plan, learned of it through regular radio news broadcasts. No effort had been made to inform them directly or to anticipate their inevitable reaction of anger and resentment.

Agreement between Washington and Havana on this issue indicates the potential for other agreements to cool the hostility that has marked relations since Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

A restoration of normal diplomatic relations is long overdue. The timing for an American initiative now could not be better, coinciding with the peace initiative for Central America in which Cuba could play a constructive role.