THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994           TAG: 9409100242
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS 
DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS                     LENGTH: Medium:   73 lines

AGREEMENT REACHED ON REFUGEES

Cuba and the United States reached an agreement Friday under which Havana pledged to stop its citizens from fleeing the country for Florida aboard makeshift rafts and small boats. In return, Washington promised to accept at least 20,000 new Cuban immigrants each year.

But the nearly 30,000 Cuban refugees who have already fled the island, most of whom are housed at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay or camps in Panama, appear to be the big losers under the new agreement.

U.S. officials said those refugees would not be permitted to move ahead of applicants now in Cuba.

The refugees may stay at the camps as long as they wish or seek asylum elsewhere, U.S. officials said. However, they must return to Cuba and apply for immigrant visas in the normal way if they wish to come to the United States.

Cuba, meanwhile, has agreed to repatriate Cubans now in the so-called safe havens of Guantanamo and Panama.

U.S. officials quickly hailed the agreement as a triumph for the Clinton administration. Undersecretary of State Peter Tarnoff described it as the fruit ``of quick and decisive action by President Clinton.''

In the final agreement, in fact, the Cubans accepted little more than the United States had offered in the opening round of talks on Sept. 1.

The president himself, in a statement issued while he was in New Orleans for a speech, predicted that the end of the massive illegal exodus from Cuba was imminent. ``This agreement, when carried out, will help ensure that the massive flow of dangerous and illegal migration will be replaced by a safer, legal and more orderly process,'' he said.

However, administration officials acknowledged that Clinton's apparent victory may prove elusive unless Cuban President Fidel Castro translates his words into actions.

Under the agreement, the United States will accept:

a minimum of 20,000 Cubans a year on regular visas;

an unspecified number of close relatives of residents now in the United States;

and, for one year only, all those eligible Cubans now on the visa waiting list in the American diplomatic mission in Havana. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno estimated that 4,000 to 6,000 Cubans would enter the United States in the last category.

In exchange, the Cubans have agreed to try to end the exodus of rafters without using violent force. As the signed agreement states, ``The Republic of Cuba will take effective measures in every way it possibly can to prevent unsafe departures using mainly persuasive methods.''

Castro has insisted that the cause of the sudden surge of boat people to the United States - the largest since 1980 - was the economic boycott of Cuba by the United States, and he wanted the talks in New York to cover the ending of the embargo.

But U.S. officials insisted that the talks be limited to migration matters, and it was uncertain what Castro achieved from Friday's accord. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Staff graphic

Cuba Watch - Friday

KEYWORDS: CUBA REFUGEES by CNB