A "tense calm" returned to Cuban refugee camps after at least 236 U.S. soldiers were injured by rock-throwing protesters angry about the slow pace of efforts to find them permanent homes.
At least 17 Cubans were reported wounded in the rioting, which began Wednesday and was brought under control a day later.It was the worst outbreak of violence since President Clinton ordered U.S. warships to intercept Cuban refugees at sea in August. About 8,500 refugees have been held at camps in Panama under U.S. supervision since September. More than twice that many are detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Vice President Al Gore said Friday that the riots would not force any changes in U.S. immigration policy.
"We're taking a lot of steps, including actively seeking third countries for them to go to," Gore told CBS News. "We are also actively reviewing humanitarian and hardship cases . . . and we are improving the conditions there."
Panamanian police with automatic rifles helped U.S. soldiers search for the missing Cubans. Troops set up roadblocks around the four camps, 12 miles west of Panama City.
At least 26 Cubans who tried to swim the muddy canal were caught by police. The refugees said one Cuban drowned. "We heard screams that `I'm drowning, I'm drowning.' But we couldn't do anything," one said.
A military spokesman confirmed that tear gas was used at one camp Thursday to quell rioting. He said about 1,000 troops were summoned to restore calm and were welding together large sections of barbed wire fencing knocked over by the rioters.
Soldiers hit by rocks in the head, arms and legs suffered minor injuries, said Liliana Levi, spokeswoman for Operation Safe Haven, the U.S. military mission in charge of the four camps in Panama. The troops did not fire weapons.
Twelve soldiers were hospitalized Thursday, Levi said.
A U.S. military communique said the fighting was caused by "the erroneous perception that . . . transferring people to other countries was being deliberately delayed."