Florida preps for mass migration from Cuba

Florida preps for mass migration from Cuba
Jeb Bush says state, federal officials would try to prevent huge influx

Gov. Bush: State would try to prevent mass migration

Gov. Jeb Bush said today that state and federal officials would try to prevent a mass migration from Cuba if Fidel Castro dies from his current medical complications or the situation becomes more chaotic on the island.

Bush said he urged the creation of a national plan four years ago, which would include the Coast Guard halting Cubans fleeing their home country in hopes of convincing other Cubans not to take to the open seas.

"You don't want to have mass migration that creates the loss of life and creates tremendous hardships for local communities and for our state," Bush said. "We've already seen what the impacts of mass migration are. Better to have an orderly process and a focus on the transition."

By early this afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard was simply monitoring the situation along coastal waters and abroad, Petty Officer James Judge said.

"In the event of a mass migration, we would be picking people up at sea" as well as delivering water and offering medical attention, Judge said.

There had been no signs of people from either country departing on boat. The federal government would be in charge of enacting any plan if that were to happen, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said at a 10 a.m. news conference.

"We haven't received any information of that sort. There isn't any unusual activity that has been reported to us," Alvarez said.

Emergency operations officials in Miami-Dade County increased to a Level 2 activation – just shy of a full activation – late Monday night.

Level 2 means police and fire rescue departments, as well as representatives from the county's cities, the Red Cross, the National Guard and Coast Guard are watching events from the EOC headquarters in Doral, said Cynthia Martinez, a county spokeswoman.

The Level 2 was activated between 10 and 11 p.m. Monday night. During the 15-minute news conference, Alvarez offered few details on the county's deployment plans if Castro died.

"It depends on what is happening at that moment," Alvarez said. "You have to be flexible."

Martinez's views

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, the Senate's only Cuban-born member, said today that he believes news of Fidel Castro's transfer of power marks the end of his reign over Cuba.

"Now that there is no longer a Fidel Castro on the scene - and I frankly, don't believe he will be able to be back and govern again - that may be a hope more than a knowledge ... it is beginning to be a moment of opportunity for there to be different voices and different thoughts," Martinez said at a news conference.

Martinez, R-Fla., said he had no way of knowing whether Castro was still alive, but the manner in which the news of Castro's hospitalization was released in Cuba indicates Castro is either "very, very ill or dead."

"If one were to diagnose how the Cuban government would react to the death of Castro, this is kind of how you would do it, you would trickle it out. It would try to avoid the shock to the Cuban people," Martinez said.

"It's certain that their plan is for there to be a transfer from one dictator to another. That isn't really a just way of dealing with the Cuban peoples' desire for freedom. There ought to be an opportunity for the Cuban people to also be heard on this."

Martinez, who left Cuba when he was 15, said he has long dreamed of the time when Castro would no longer be in power and he was having a difficult time realizing that such a time might soon be at hand.

He said he has long hoped to return to Cuba when he felt he could "speak freely in the town square" of his hometown of Sagua la Grande without being persecuted, but "I am not sure the moment has come."

Martinez, who was appointed by President Bush in 2003 to be a member of a Cabinet-level Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, urged fellow Cuban exiles in South Florida not to participate in a mass migration similar to the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when tens of thousands of Cubans fled the island and arrived in Miami in a short period of time.

He said the Bush administration - including the Coast Guard and U.S. Navy - has made plans to prevent such a mass migration.

Martinez warned that any mass boat movement between Cuba and South Florida - in either direction - could result in a "tremendous loss of life," and urged exiles to keep their emotions "in check, as difficult as it is."

Martinez said he did not believe Raul Castro would be able to remain in power for very long and said he was concerned that other countries, such as leftist-led Venezuela, might seek to interfere in a post-Castro government.

"This is a matter for the Cuban people to resolve," he said, indicating there could be some people, even within the current Cuban regime, who might seek a more democratic post-Castro form of government.

Martinez said he was concerned that the Cuban armed forces, under Raul Castro's control, could over-react and that there could be bloodshed in Cuba in a post-Castro era. He said he hoped Cuba would follow the model of much of Eastern Europe after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., noted that "we've been through this before. So we don't know whether this really is the beginning of the end. But let's hope it is. Let's hope it's over for the dictator. Then we can move forward towards a free and democratic Cuba."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Miami whose family fled Cuba shortly before he was born, said: "For nearly 50 years, this murderous thug has threatened global security with his terrorist agenda and has abusively oppressed the Cuban people. By transferring his power to Raul, he has made it clear that his health is failing – how severely, we do not yet know.

"This should remind us all that we must vigilantly focus on helping the oppressed Cuban people make an active transition from communist tyranny to freedom and democracy," Diaz-Balart said. "I've always said that Cuba will be free, and that day is rapidly approaching."

Storm complicates situation

Further complicating the possible exodus from Cuba, or a Mariel-style flotilla departing South Florida for Cuba, is the slow crawl of Tropical Storm Chris.

cont'd