19334: (Hermantin)-Sun-Sentinel-546 Haitian refugees held at sea by Coast Guard (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

New exodus? 546 Haitian refugees held at sea by Coast Guard

By Tal Abbady
Staff Writer
Posted February 27 2004

In a sign of a potential exodus from Haiti, the Coast Guard said it was
holding 546 Haitian refugees on cutters at sea Thursday.

The Haitians were picked up over the past few days within 50 miles of their
country's shore in about a dozen small boats, Coast Guard officials said,
bringing the total number of Haitian immigrants intercepted this month to
694. They have been brought onto Coast Guard cutters to receive food and
water.

The news came a day after a group of alleged Haitian hijackers on a
Panamanian freighter were intercepted by the Coast Guard within several
miles of Miami. That group remained on the vessel Thursday as federal agents
interrogated all passengers.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Tony Russell said he thought those picked up near
Haiti's shores included women and children. They were plucked from the
Windward Passage, a waterway northwest of Haiti where seafaring refugees
often begin their 600-mile journey to Florida. They likely will be sent
back.

But the Coast Guard remained firm in its view that no mass migrations from
the ravaged island nation were imminent.

"While we're seeing an increase in migrants leaving, there's no indication
of a mass migration," Russell said. He noted that the numbers of
interceptions would have to be staggering to qualify as a mass flight, and
said that the 2,000 refugees from the Dominican Republic intercepted by the
Coast Guard in January did not constitute such an event.

The 17 Haitians thought to be hijackers and four Haitians considered
passengers were kept offshore on the Panamanian-flagged freighter Margot
while federal officials determined whether the ship was hijacked. Officials
released few details Thursday but said that all the passengers, including
seven Filipino crew members, were in good health and that an investigation
was under way.

At a news conference Thursday, leaders of Miami's Haitian-American community
demanded that the United States allow Haitians temporary protective status
until the political crisis subsides. The Congressional Black Caucus has made
the same request in Washington.

"It's unfair, it's almost immoral, to be deporting people right now to
Haiti," said Rep. Philip Brutus, D-North Miami, and the first
Haitian-American state representative in Florida. His call was echoed by
State Rep. Yolly Roberson, D-Miami.

South Florida's three Republican Cuban-American legislators in Washington,
U.S. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart,
also have campaigned to grant Haitians protective status.

As political leaders in Florida debated the fate of the Haitian migrants,
Gov. Jeb Bush weighed in with his own point of view.

"They should be sent back to Haiti. They hijacked a boat," the governor said
in Tallahassee. "Unless they have a well-founded fear of persecution that is
specific and meets the criteria of our laws, they should be sent back."

Communications intercepted by a towboat captain Wednesday indicated several
gun-wielding passengers commandeered the ship.

Coast Guard officials surrounded the vessel and boarded it after the
hijackers peacefully surrendered their weapons, which included one handgun
and three shotguns.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed that agents from the
Federal Bureau of Investigation were aiding in the case, though the Coast
Guard did not confirm the incident was a hijacking.

Federal officials did not confirm whether the group included Haitian police
officers or military officials, but one of Haiti's former leaders surmised
that was the case.

"If they came to Florida with arms, they are probably from the Aristide
camp," said former Haitian President Leslie Manigat from Washington, D.C.
"It is very difficult for opposition members to flee with arms. And if they
did arrive with arms, that won't be good for them. They will be sanctioned
and sent back. They won't be processed like the Cubans. Any pretext is
enough to send the Haitians back."

Manigat was elected in 1988, before being deposed in a coup months later.
Based on his observations, he did not think scores of Haitians were planning
to head for the United States and risk drowning in the roiling surf.

"Florida feels that there will be this invasion of Haitians," Manigat said.
"But people are waiting to see if Aristide will step down."

Under international law, if the freighter was taken by force, the United
States would be obligated to return the ship, said Berta Esperanza
Hernandez-Truyol, an international law professor at the University of
Florida. If the ship's occupants are accused of hijacking, the United States
can extradite them or prosecute them here, she said.

In prior hijackings involving Cubans, Hernandez-Truyol said the United
States has been more inclined to prosecute them.

"But here, [the United States] might decide to go ahead and prosecute the
hijackers to send a message that it will not welcome boatloads of people
escaping the crisis," she said.

But an admission into the federal court system, whatever the outcome, may be
more desirable to refugees fleeing Haiti than automatic deportation, some
analysts said.

Peter Nuñez, former assistant secretary of the Treasury for enforcement and
a specialist in transnational smuggling, said the possible hijacking of the
Margot complicates the blanket deportation policy. Nuñez said it is possible
that officials are hesitating to label the incident a hijacking in order to
avoid having to detain the suspects for legal proceedings, or having to
negotiate their transfer to Panama, which could have jurisdiction because of
the freighter involved.

"Under international conventions, we don't just repatriate hijackers, we
charge them, just as we would charge the armed hijackers of aircrafts,"
Nuñez said. "Presumably, someone would want to hold these people
responsible."

Tallahassee Bureau Chief Linda Kleindienst and Miami Bureau Chief David
Cázares contributed to this report, which was supplemented with information
from The Associated Press.

Tal Abbady can be reached at tabbady@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6624.







Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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