Ambassador Defends Eviction

Mexican Ambassador Ricardo Pascoe defended the decision to call in Cuban police to evict 21 men who stormed his embassy last week, saying it was the best way to decisively resolve the crisis.

“I am absolutely convinced it was necessary to conclude the process as quickly as possible, whatever the consequences,” said Pascoe, who witnessed the operation as a guarantee against excessive violence.

The men crashed a bus through the embassy’s perimeter gate Wednesday night after false rumors Mexico was offering entry visas to all Cubans who wanted them. That sparked mayhem and at least 150 arrests outside the mission.

After the 21 men had holed up for 30 hours and refused Mexican officials’ attempts to talk them out, unarmed agents went in Friday at Mexico’s request to fetch them.

On Saturday, the fate of the men remained unclear. Mexico has said it would not press charges, but Cuba was expected to try the men for public order offenses. Relatives of some of the men said they didn’t know where they were being held. Mexican officials said they knew but were not going to release details.

“We think it is up to the Cuban government” to decide whether that information should be made public, Pascoe said. However, he had said earlier that he was “actually very reluctant to accept the idea offhand that they are going to be tortured, mistreated. I just somehow don’t perceive that as the tone of the Cuban government.”

Many fellow diplomats in Havana applauded Mexico’s handling of the situation as likely to help deter similar break-ins of foreign premises. But some anti-Castro Cuban Americans were furious, saying the men’s right to asylum was violated, while local dissidents were worried they may face severe reprisals.