http://www.startribune.com/722/story/577142.html

Last update: July 26, 2006 – 9:59 PM

Honduras now the latest illegal gateway into U.S.
More Cubans are going there instead of using the shorter route to the Florida Keys.
Nancy San Martin, McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI - Honduran authorities are devising a plan to halt what they say is an organized smuggling operation, fearing an "avalanche" of illegal landings by Cuban migrants who are using Honduras as a gateway to the United States.
"What we are witnessing is the trafficking of human beings," said German Espinal, Honduran director general of international migration. "We need to find a mechanism that will distance us from being accomplices to human trafficking."

A record number of Cubans have landed on Honduran beaches this year: at least 380 in the past six months, compared with 179 in all of 2005 and 47 in 2002.

Soon after arriving, the Cubans usually leave Honduras by land to make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border to try to become beneficiaries of the U.S. wet-foot, dry-foot immigration policy under which Cubans caught at sea, but not on land, are sent back to Cuba.

For the first time in recent memory, Cubans now rank among the most often apprehended along the border, the U.S. Border Patrol said.

Honduran authorities say they hope to reach some kind of accord with the U.S. and Cuban governments that will dissuade those trying to flee the island from using Honduras as a stopover to El Norte.

"We are concerned about an avalanche," Espinal said. "We don't have the resources to deal with this. It creates a very chaotic situation."

No deportation accord

Honduras has become a magnet for Cuban migrants because, unlike most of the other nations in the region, it does not have a deportation accord with Cuba. That allows those who make it there to stay just long enough to make their way by land across Guatemala and Mexico and slip into the United States.

Authorities are convinced the numbers point to an organized smuggling ring because larger groups of 20 to 30 migrants are now being dropped off by fast boats after a stopover in the Cayman Islands or Jamaica. Some of the loads also include Chinese and South American migrants.

The Cuban migrants have told authorities that the ride costs $15,000 to $18,000 per passenger, said Espinal, who added that their smuggling suspicion is boosted by the fact that the travelers "come in good shape, not as if they've had a lot of exposure to the sun."

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr said the situation described by Honduran authorities is "typical of what an organized smuggling organization would look like."

"We know that the Cuban migration is going in other directions besides the United States," Warr said. "Around the Cuban community, there is a growing trend of illegal migration. They are going through foreign countries, but they're coming to the United States."

Espinal said preliminary plans call for separating Cuban migrants into three groups upon arrival: those with valid claims for political asylum, humanitarian cases and those who are fleeing for economic reasons. Although Honduras is prohibited from deporting Cubans to their homeland, "we can return them to the country where they departed from."

Human rights concerns

Those kinds of options have raised concern among some activists. Honduran Human Rights Commissioner Ramon Custodio said repatriation could violate terms of an international convention on refugees signed by Honduras in 1992.

"All we care about is the care of any human being who seeks refuge in any country," Custodio said. "If they arrive on our shores, we must treat them as humanely as possible."

Some Cubans who have made the approximately 700-mile journey from the island's southeastern coast to Honduras deny that there's any organized people-smuggling going on.

"That is a lie. Cubans are building their own boats," said Rene Crespo, who made the illegal trip to Honduras 18 months ago and now lives in Miami. His wife was among a group of 22 Cubans rescued by Honduran fisherman earlier this month. They all have left Honduras and are expected in Miami.

Crespo said that if Honduras closes its borders to Cubans, "things are going to get ugly. Cubans will find a way to get out. They see that those of us who make it and work can have decent lives."

Said Angel Saro, who made the trip with Crespo: "People are leaving out of necessity -- to eat, to work, to live."