HAVANA · Responding to a request from the Mexican ambassador, Fidel Castro early Friday morning approved orders for police to evict 21 young Cuban men from the Mexican Embassy, bringing a swift end to a potentially tense diplomatic standoff.
The Cubans, who had commandeered a city bus two days earlier and crashed through the embassy's gate, were sleeping in the library when 42 unarmed special forces officers entered the diplomatic compound about 4:30 a.m. Within six minutes they were all loaded onto awaiting buses and driven away.
"Most of them left very passively. It was really very, very quiet," said Ambassador Ricardo Pascoe Pierce, who witnessed the men's removal. He repeated the Mexican government's position that the men, who ranged in age from 16 to 38, did not seek political asylum or show evidence of persecution.
"Our sense was that they were adventurers who wanted to get a visa and a plane ticket," he said. "My impression is that they were duped. … We're not willing to let our embassy become a victim in an action that is very unclear in its origin."
Pascoe Pierce and a highly placed Cuban official said they did not know where the men were being held or what charges they face. Pascoe Pierce said the minors might be released.
Mexican officials repeatedly had asked the men to leave the embassy. When they didn't, Mexico asked the Cuban government to intervene. Only an hour before the pre-dawn eviction, during a meeting with Castro and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Pascoe Pierce said he discussed the "pros and cons of the action."
These poor illiterate Cubans would have just come to the US and be more of a burden on our society, according to your rhetoric.
I am surprised that you aren't congratulating Fox.