THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230505
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
The Marine Corps' top general has challenged the Navy's conclusion that the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station is unsafe for military families and has urged that military dependents be returned as soon as possible.
Gen. Carl Mundy, the Marine commandant, conveyed his sentiments in a personal but unclassified message sent on Monday to the Navy leadership, the U.S. Atlantic Command and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Shalikashvili.
A Marine Corps spokesman, Chief Warrant Officer Bill Wright, confirmed that Mundy visited Guantanamo over the weekend and sent other senior military officials a message regarding the situation there. He declined to release the message or describe its contents but said the Marines, unlike the Navy, have made no decision on whether dependents should be allowed on the base.
As Mundy visited the base, the Navy was informing dependents that they will not be allowed to return to Guantanamo until next summer, at the earliest.
About 20,000 Cuban and Haitian refugees are living in tent cities on the base. The migrant population reached almost 40,000 in September, spurring the military to evacuate service dependents, but has been declining since mid-October.
Most of the Haitian migrants went home voluntarily, having lost their reason to flee with the return to power of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. About 10,000 Cubans have been evacuated to similar camps in Panama, further easing the strain on Guantanamo's water, sewer and electrical services.
Sources familiar with Mundy's memo said the general cited the declining refugee population and painted an upbeat picture of conditions at the base. He concluded that returning the dependents would be safe and their return would boost the morale of sailors and Marines stationed at Guantanamo.
Among other signs of normalcy, Mundy noted that a McDonald's restaurant on the base is operating and that the Navy exchange store is fully stocked.
Wright, the Marine spokesman, said Mundy was unaware of the Navy's decision to continue to bar dependents from Guantanamo when he sent his message on Monday. Leaders of the two services regularly hail the value of their teamwork and Mundy's message represented an apparent break in communications.
Navy officials have cited continuing concerns about safety at the base in supporting their stance on keeping dependents out. They've offered to shorten assignments to Guantanamo so that no sailor has to be separated from his or her family for more than 12 months.
Cuban migrants remaining at the base have become increasingly unruly in recent weeks, frustrated with the Clinton administration's refusal to let them immigrate and by the slow pace of negotiations to return them to Cuba.
Some of the migrants, often dozens at a time, have scaled fences surrounding their camps and roamed the base until they were picked up by American troops. Others have tried to swim back to Cuban soil. A minefield and heavily guarded fence surrounding the base makes an overland escape all but impossible. ILLUSTRATION: Staff map
Guantanamo Bay Naval Station
For copy of map, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: U.S. GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL STATION
by CNB