The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday the number of Haitians fleeing in U.S-bound boats is rising, a phenomenon refugee groups attribute to the end of hurricane season and hopes for a new American government.
The number of Haitians intercepted by the Coast Guard so far this month is 711, the highest monthly number by far since May, when President Bush ordered U.S. authorities to turn refugees back without determining whether they were fleeing political persecution.From June to September, the Coast Guard picked up 460 refugees, said Coast Guard spokesman Roger Wetherell.
Still, the latest wave is much smaller than the thousands who fled in the first eight months after a military coup in September 1991.
A Haitian human rights leader, Jean-Claude Bajeux, told The Associated Press that rough waters during hurricane season stopped many Haitians from leaving the hemisphere's poorest country.
He also cited hunger, unemployment, political repression, hopelessness and "lack of faith in any possible improvement under the present government."
Other Haitian refugee advocates in Port-au-Prince and New York say supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide hope for a change in U.S. political and refugee policy if Bush loses his re-election bid to Bill Clinton.
"Clinton's made some very positive statements on (Haiti)," said Jocelyn McCalla, the director of the New York-based National Coalition for Haitian Refugees. "The question is whether he can make any decisions soon, or will postpone them for another day."
The United States repatriated 300 Haitians this week alone.
Since the coup, 38,224 Haitians have been intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard. About 10,700 were found by U.S. authorities to have plausible grounds for political asylum; most have been repatriated.