Word: peruvian
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...1960s, this area has the largest Cuban community in the U.S. outside Miami, and many of the established exiles have opened their homes to the newcomers. "I never thought that Castro would let us go," says Ricardo Colas Estrada, 22, who spent seven days waiting in the Peruvian embassy and is now living with a family in Union City. "I had nothing much to eat, nothing to wear. There was no future for the young in Cuba today...
Much of the confusion can be traced to the Cuban Premier, who has regularly changed the rules and played to his own interests throughout the world's latest refugee flight. When nearly 11,000 Cubans crammed into the Peruvian embassy compound in Havana last month seeking political asylum, Castro promised salidas (exit visas) to all those who could gain permission from other countries to emigrate there. But after an airlift organized by Costa Rica had evacuated 678 of the 6,250 would-be exiles accepted by eight nations, including the U.S., Castro suddenly canceled the flights. Havana instead proclaimed...
When their turn finally came, many crews received a shock: they had expected to take back all the relatives they had asked for, but were told that 60%, later 70%, of their passengers would have to be refugees from the Peruvian embassy...
Presumably, Castro also decided that the evacuation would turn world attention away from the Peruvian embassy fiasco and focus the spotlight instead on Washington's scramble to cope with the flood of refugees. In this, Castro appeared to be successful. "He sure is clever at making his problem our problem," said one White House aide...
...moment, Washington is genuinely flummoxed about how to stop the flow of refugees. Though the State Department has hinted that some may be deported, especially if the total number of boat people exceeds the 3,500 that the U.S. initially agreed to take from the Peruvian embassy, such a move is considered unlikely. Said Reston: "We are in mid-stride here dealing with something the size of which we don't know." It was a frank admission that Castro's quick-stepping refugee policy caught the Carter Administration somewhat flatfooted...