When Embargo Kills Cubans At Home And Sea, Blame Castro

…2,683 Cubans had been intercepted at sea this year, nearly double the number for all of 2004.

…The State Department says the new wave of migrants is a result of increasingly repressive policies in Cuba, the island's crumbling economy and Mr. Castro's refusal to let more Cubans sign up for a lottery under which the United States is supposed to grant 20,000 visas a year.

But some Cuban-Americans in South Florida say that new limits on their visits and on the money they can send to relatives on the island, imposed by the Bush administration last year, have led to greater desperation among many Cubans. Ever more aggressive smuggling has also played a role

…The number of Cubans being intercepted is by far the highest since 1994, when 37,000 took to the Florida Straits after Mr. Castro announced that his government would no longer stop boats or rafts leaving the island. It was a hostile move against the United States and a way for Mr. Castro to divert attention from his domestic problems and quell an uprising against him on the island, similar to when he let 125,000 Cubans leave in the Mariel boatlift of 1980.

The 1994 exodus led the United States and Cuba to agree on the wet foot, dry foot policy in 1995, ending this country's longtime practice of admitting all Cuban migrants as refugees.

…“Castro's repression of his own people and refusal to allow the basic freedoms enjoyed by people everywhere have led to a mass migration by the Cuban people,” [State Department spokeswoman Jenelle] Hironimu said.

But some Cuban-Americans in South Florida say Mr. Bush's refusal to make exceptions to the current policy is evidence that he is deserting the anti-Castro cause.

Abby Goodnough, “Tensions Rise as More Flee Cuba for U.S.,” New York Times, 12/18/05.