The Spanish Embassy in Havana remained under heavy guard Wednesday while Spanish officials vigorously denied that any Cuban asylum-seekers were inside the building.
``There is nobody [seeking asylum] in there. No one entered the embassy,'' a spokesman for the Spanish Foreign Ministry said.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the police cordon that has been in place around the embassy since Tuesday was set up at the request of the Spanish Foreign Ministry. He said the request was delivered to Cuba's ambassador in Madrid, Rosario Navas, after the crisis sparked by the Cuban government's rejection of the appointment of Jose Coderch as the new Spanish ambassador to Havana.
On Tuesday afternoon, dozens of people tried to break through the police lines around the embassy near Havana's waterfront after rumors spread through the city that Spain would grant visas for those wishing to leave Cuba. They were held back and then dispersed by Cuban security forces.
``Open up! Open up!'' members of the crowd shouted, indicating the embassy's closed doors.
On Wednesday, about 15 truck loads of Special Brigade police from the Interior Ministry and several dozen ``special civilian contingents'' blocked vehicle and pedestrian traffic around the embassy.
The security measures coincided with the annual commemoration of a dramatic event in Cuba's struggle against Spanish colonial domination in the 19th Century -- the execution by a Spanish firing squad of eight Cuban medical students Nov. 27, 1871. The Young Communist Union had announced the commemoration before the crisis in Spanish-Cuban relations broke out this week, and it was held at the traditional spot -- a monument across the street from the Spanish Embassy.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday denying ``rumors to the effect that the Spanish Consulate would issue visas on an extraordinary or accelerated basis, without following the procedures established in the legislation of both countries.''
Meanwhile, the government's domestic news agency, AIN, carried a statement from the Spanish Embassy that said it was carrying out its normal activities.
``At the request of the Embassy of the Spanish Kingdom, the Foreign Ministry of Cuba advises the population that the Spanish Embassy will continue providing its services to the public in the usual manner, without modifications,'' the statement said. Spain's Conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar received support Wednesday from British Prime Minister John Major during a visit to London. Major said Cuba's action in rejecting the Spanish ambassador was ``intolerable.''
The British Foreign Office issued a note underlining Major's position.
``We are working with Spain and the rest of our European partners to adopt a common position on Cuba in order to promote democratic reforms there,'' the note said.
Copyright © 1996 The Miami Herald