A hijacked bus carrying more than 20 apparent Cuban asylum-seekers crashed through the gates of the Mexican embassy in Havana late Wednesday. A Mexican Embassy official Thursday told Reuters News Service that 21 young Cubans, all males, had entered the mission and had been given food and medical checkups. The Cuban government has accused the Miami-based U.S. operated Radio Marti of provoking the incident. A government statement Thursday says the radio's reporting on comments made by Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, on a visit to Miami this week, led listeners to believe that Mexico would grant refuge to any Cuban who showed up.

Mr. Casteneda's comment - that the doors of the Mexican embassy in Havana are open to all Cuban citizens - was widely quoted by various news media in Miami.

In Mexico City Thursday, Mr. Casteneda echoed the Cuban statement, calling the invasion of the embassy a small provocation caused by what he called radical anti-Castro elements in Miami.

There was no immediate comment from Radio Marti about the Cuban accusation.

Associated Press quotes the Mexican Foreign Secretary as saying, in his words, "those radical elements" wanted to twist his declarations about the Mexican Cultural Center in Miami. In a Mexican radio interview, he said they were not asylum seekers but jobless people looking for better opportunities in Mexico. The southern Florida city of Miami has a large Cuban exile community. Radio Marti's broadcasts in Spanish are intended for audiences in Cuba.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version