Cuba ejects occupiers of Mexican embassy

Unarmed Cuban security forces have ejected 21 visa-seekers from the Mexican embassy in Havana at the request of the Mexican government…

Unarmed Cuban security forces have ejected 21 visa-seekers from the Mexican embassy in Havana at the request of the Mexican government.

Cuban police guard at the Mexican embassy in Havana
Cuban police and plainclothes security agents guard a bus that a group of anti-Castro Cuban asylum-seekers smashed through the Mexican Embassy gate in Havana.

"A specialised and unarmed special unit carried out the ejection in a planned manner, in conformity with the request and desire of the Mexican government, without the least incident," a Cuban government statement said. The Cubans had stormed the compound earlier this week.

Mexico's foreign minister had said the Cubans in the compound appeared to want work in Mexico, but asked for them to be moved from the embassy.

"They are not asylum-seekers because they haven't asked for asylum. They did not show any political motivation for entering the embassy," Foreign Minister Mr Jorge Castaneda told Mexican radio.

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The Cubans spent the night at the diplomatic mission in Havana's upmarket Miramar district after driving the bus through the gate, sparking clashes between police and scores of youths in the street who also wanted to enter the embassy.

Mr Castro's government blamed the break-in on a rumor that Mexico was opening its doors to Cuban asylum-seekers, saying the US government-funded Radio Marti had broadcast "the false and evil" news to the communist-run Caribbean island eight times during the day.

The case raised memories of a mass invasion of the Peruvian Embassy in Havana by thousands of asylum-seekers in 1980 - also sparked by a bus break-in that killed a Cuban guard.

That prompted Mr Castro to temporarily ease Cuba's strict limitations on emigration, leading to an exodus of 125,000 refugees to the United States.