Associated Press
Tuesday, August 29, 2000; Page A10

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright yesterday accused Cuba of denying exit permits to Cubans with U.S. visas, thereby separating families and forcing would-be immigrants to risk escapes by boat.

Albright said the United States lodged a formal protest with Cuba's diplomatic office in Washington. "The government of Cuba is increasingly obstructing the safe, legal and orderly migration of individuals from Cuba," she said.

The diplomatic note said 117 Cubans from 57 families had been denied exit permits by the Cuban government in a recent 75-day period. The United States had granted all of them visas.

Disclosure of the note follows the protracted dispute with Cuban Americans over 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez. The boy was spirited from Cuba by his mother, who died at sea, and was taken home by his father after a lengthy legal battle.

Unlike Elian and his mother, the 117 Cubans cited in the U.S. complaint had visas to enter the United States. The diplomatic note alleged that Cuba had not abided by a 1994 agreement for the orderly migration of 20,000 Cubans plus family members to the United States.

The Cuban diplomatic mission offered no immediate reaction to the accusation. However, spokesman Roberto Garcia criticized U.S. policy as criminal, immoral and discriminatory, saying the United States was responsible for deaths at sea because it encouraged Cubans to try to reach U.S. shores.