Word: exodus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...discourage Cubans from setting out on the treacherous 90-mile crossing to Florida. But it was clear that American threats stood little chance of prevailing over Cuba's hungers. By the time President Clinton went on television to reverse nearly 30 years of Cuban policy, he was characterizing the exodus as "a cold-blooded attempt to maintain the Castro grip on Cuba." Unwilling to be blackmailed by the threat of a humanitarian disaster, Clinton revoked the special status Cuban refugees have long enjoyed, which guarantees them asylum if they reach U.S. shores...
...officials guess as many as 3 million of Cuba's 11 million citizens would flee if promised safe passage -- an exodus that could be fatally humiliating to Castro but equally damaging to Clinton in Florida, an important re-election state. Having chided Castro for running a big prison, Clinton cannot very well tell him to keep the doors to the jail shut. But Floridians were adamant: they would not, could not bear the cost of absorbing a vast new population of exiles. Already blistered by criticism of his reversals on Haiti, Clinton needed a firm solution that would slow...
...exodus follows nearly five years of increasing turmoil in Cuba after the fall of its Soviet patrons. Since 1989, imports have dropped from $8 billion to $2 billion. Last summer Castro eased a few restrictions. Possession of U.S. currency is no longer illegal, and some private employment is allowed. The timid reforms raised hopes for improved living standards. But a year later, with Castro blocking liberalization, and tensions erupting between the haves and the have-nots, refugees say hope has died. Ration books provide barely two weeks' worth of food. For the rest, families must rely on the black market...
...ministers, 11 of whom are from the opposition. There is an interim President afraid of his own shadow." The Tutsi-dominated military hovers in the background, alert for an opportunity to take power. And more than 230,000 Hutu refugees from Rwanda complicate any attempts to govern: an exodus from the French protected zone could add tens of thousands more...
...Bukavu fears a repeat of the huge exodus that brought 1.2 million Rwandans into Zaire last month. The latest tide could pour out of southwestern Rwanda this week, when the last of 2,500 French soldiers who established a safe zone in June for 1.5 million frightened Hutu are scheduled to depart. Under domestic pressure to bring its troops home, the French government last week ignored a plea by the U.S. to stay on until the situation stabilizes. The Hutu fear that the African troops of the United Nations force replacing the French will not be able to guarantee their...