Cuban Police Start Crackdown on Would-Be Rafters Headed for U.S.

Police began cracking down Sunday on would-be emigrants working furiously to launch rafts ahead of a Tuesday government deadline, after which no departures by sea are to be allowed.

A Cuban Interior Ministry police captain patrolling this popular beachfront said he was under orders to “persuade” rafters not to leave. He added, however, that police were not instructed to interfere with the departures of any rafts already waiting at the beach.

Cuba is responding to an accord signed Friday with the United States calling on President Fidel Castro to halt an exodus of rafters that has flooded U.S. detention centers with migrants. In exchange, Washington agreed to assure that the influx of legal Cuban migrants will rise from the current 2,700 per year to 20,000.

State-run television said that in compliance with the accord, police would immediately begin confiscating any vehicles used to transport rafts to the seashore and that drivers would be arrested.

Scores of police were visible patrolling Havana’s seafront Malecon boulevard, while checkpoints were established on key highways leading to beaches.

At several launching points in Cojimar, east of Havana, activity had significantly diminished Sunday in comparison with a packed beachfront Friday and Saturday.

A police captain, who would not give his name, said his officers have been told to fire on anyone who makes threatening moves toward police enforcing the ban on rafters. Previously rafters have said violence would erupt if police attempted to interfere.

Although the number of Cubans setting out on rafts appeared to decline, the ranks of those rescued at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard picked up a bit Sunday. By 8 p.m. EDT Sunday, the Coast Guard had plucked 684 Cubans from the waters of the Florida Straits.

Nature was also poised to hinder the migration effort as a tropical depression approached southeastern Cuba. Weather forecasters predict high winds, rain and rough seas through Tuesday, threatening to make launchings dangerous.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby still packed enough of a punch Sunday to flood an expressway and knock out electrical power in the Dominican Republic.

The swell of refugees has caused the Clinton Administration to reverse a 28-year policy of granting asylum to Cubans. Many have been detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Soldiers have been trying to contain protests, but about 2,000 rafters demonstrated for a second straight day Sunday, a U.S. military spokesman said.

He said the Cubans left their Camp Bulkeley complex and attempted to walk peacefully toward the center of the naval station, but security forces set up “blocking positions” and were trying to route them back to camp.