Fear, Resignation at Guantanamo : Refugees: Repatriation stirs panic among some Haitians encamped in Cuba. Others say there’s no point in delaying their inevitable return.

As hundreds of his compatriots marched in single file Sunday from their barbed-wire encampment to board the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bear, George Lucier begged to live--or die--on U.S. soil.

“Kill me now,” he wailed, flailing his outstretched arms. “They killed my wife. They killed my momma. They killed my sister. If I go back to Haiti, they will kill me, too.

“No!” he shrieked. “I don’t want to go back to Haiti!”

Lucier’s pleas were provoked by the U.S. military’s first wave of forced repatriation of thousands of Haitian boat people who have been picked up at sea and housed in a tent camp here since a military coup ousted the elected civilian president of their country Sept. 30.

Sometime this morning, the Coast Guard cutter Steadfast will arrive at Port-au-Prince with 154 Haitians who had been detained at this U.S. military base on the southeastern tip of Cuba. Another 250, including Lucier, who left Sunday night, are expected to arrive home on the Bear by Tuesday morning.

The massive repatriation effort, expected to continue with as many as 1,000 Haitians being sent home daily, got under way within hours of a 6-3 Supreme Court decision late Friday effectively ending a lower court stay that had prevented the Bush Administration from forcibly returning the Haitians.

Once the Supreme Court issued the green light, military officials here immediately started the process of sending the Haitians home.

Marine Brig. Gen. George H. Walls Jr., head of the combined military forces unit that is supervising the Haitian encampment, said Haitians who were denied an opportunity to seek asylum in the United States were told early Saturday that they would be sent home. He said military officials then asked for volunteers from among the Haitians to initiate the parade of returning refugees.

“For the most part they took it very calmly,” Walls said of the “first phase” evacuation Saturday night. “They were aware of the court’s decision, and they understand that it allowed for involuntary repatriation, if necessary.”

During a meeting with reporters brought here early Sunday, Walls said that it was in the Haitians’ best interest that they be sent back quickly because the summer months are approaching and the combination of soaring temperatures and prolonged confinement pose additional problems at the base.

He said the trip back for the Haitians would take about 12 to 14 hours after the first few boatloads of Haitians have been returned. He said the early returnees will have a longer trip because the U.S. military is anxious to begin the repatriation but had not yet coordinated some of the details of their return with relief agencies and Haitian immigration officials in that country.

On Sunday, reporters witnessed the embarkation of about 26 Haitians who officials said would be among the 250 to sail later in the day on the cutter Bear. The process included careful checks by military police of every returning refugees’ military-issued ID card (which included a black-and-white photograph and identification number). Each Haitian also wore a white bracelet with his or her identification number.

When they arrive at Port-au-Prince, officials said, the Haitians will be greeted by a delegation consisting of United Nations, Red Cross, U.S. Embassy and Haitian immigration officials.

In Haiti, “they will have their names checked off the manifest and given the equivalent of $15 in Haitian currency by the Red Cross,” Walls said. “Then they walk out and they’re gone” from U.S. custody.

Walls discounted any threat to the returning Haitians by the military-backed government still in control of the country.

“I don’t see any fear in anybody’s eyes,” he said. “They’re not being turned over to the (Haitian) military, they’re being turned over to the Haitian immigration officials.”

But many of those who agreed to return were not so certain.

As reporters pointed notebooks and cameras at the Haitians waiting to be sent home, more than 100 of them broke into political protest songs and pleaded for help.

“I will not go back to Haiti unless Aristide goes back with me,” one unidentified man said, referring to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected president in Haiti’s history.

Said another, “The Americans know we are being killed in Haiti, but still they send us back.”

But many of those returning, such as Louisinor Joanes, seemed resigned to the fact that hope of reaching Miami or another U.S. point was lost. Joanes said that he reluctantly volunteered to go back to an uncertain fate in Haiti because he saw no point in waiting any longer.

Speaking through an interpreter, Joanes, 23, said that he had been in the Guantanamo Bay camp for three months and that it was taking too long for the U.S. government to decide whether he would be allowed political asylum in the United States.

“So I gave up,” he said. “Since that’s my decision, there’s no reason to be the last one to leave.”

Silotesse Jean-Jacques, a 34-year-old farmer and fisherman, shared the same belief. One among those who walked, silent and sad-faced, on board the Bear, Jean-Jacques said that he is prepared to return to the seven children, ages 2 to 11, that he left behind.

“They don’t know where I am, and I don’t know where they are,” he said through an interpreter. “Scared or not, my kids are there, and I have to go back to them. My heart won’t take it anymore. If I have to die, I will die with my family.”

Refugees Sent Back to Haiti

Developments in repatriation of Haitians camped at U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and aboard Coast Guard vessels. * Coast Guard cutter Steadfast carrying 154 Haitians was at sea, waiting to dock at Port-au-Prince this morning.

* 250 Haitians left Guantanamo on Sunday night aboard the Coast Guard cutter Bear and are to arrive in Haiti on Tuesday morning.

* As repatriation continues, up to 1,000 Haitians are expected to be sent home daily.