Cairo Conference

Caino will be eligible for any enhanced pro- conferenent Seeks gram that emerges from the talks. Those in Guantanamo would not be first in line to come to the United THURSON To Persuade States, bowever. Rather, those who have been on waiting lists, some for years, will be given first crack at SEPTEMBER meeting loosened conditions for win- Castro Gently ning entry to the United States. 1994 U.S. officials are looking into THE whether any former convicts are among. the more than 15,000 refu- Negotiators to Dangle gees at ,Guantanamo. In 1980, Cas- tro sent several thousand prisoners, POST Immigration Carrots some violent, along with refugees in the Mariel boat lift. By Daniel Williams Washington Post Staff Writer Vatican Official Criticizes Gore U.S.negotiators go into talks with Cuban officials today trying to walk a line: They want to persuade Cu- ba's, Fidel Castro to stop Cuban raf- In Attack on Population Policy ters from taking to the sea, but nicely. In the past, Castro arrested and fined-potential boat people under laws Church Maintains U.N. Document Endorses Abortion prokibiting "illegal departures," a practice criticized by human rights groups, He recently stopped enforcing By Laurie Goodstein that the United States is the "principal spon- Washington Post Staff Writer sor" of the document. "The United Nations is the law, stimulating a refugee wave. "We cer won't be urging them its sponsor," he said in a telephone interview. The Vatican vesterday intensified its attack to put anyone in prison," a senior offi- "We have no fight with the Vaticar and we are cial said yesterday. "We think that if on the upcoming United Nations population interested in having a successful conference." and development conference in Cairo and sin- they use nonviolent appeals, tell them Gore was vacationing in ennessee yester- gled out for criticism Vice President Gore, de- not to make the unsafe trip, that will day and unavailable for comment, said spokes- spite conciliatory remarks Gore made toward have an effect in Cuba." woman Lorraine Voles. the Vatican in a speech last week. To persuade Castro, Washington The Vatican also criticized Gore for linking Chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls also is willing to concede numerous genocide in Rwanda to the fact that it is the points on immigration long sought dismissed reports that the Vatican had sought most densely populated country in Africa. "To an alliance with Libya and Iran to influence the by his regime. The concessions conference. The Vatican's contacts with Mus- this I could respond that the population density would continue to give him a safety valve of exits for disgruntled citi- lim nations are just part of normal diplomacy, of Japan is much greater than that of Rwanda the pope's spokesman said in a briefing in Vati- and there is no danger of people killing them- zens, Without prolonging escapes by can City. selves there," Navarro-Valls said. sea, à Spectacle embarrassing to the Havana government. With the conference set to begin Monday, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Sudan have an- Today's talks in New York begin as the Vatican made clear that its delegation nounced they are withdrawing from the con- the number of Cuban refugees picked would not compromise on its total opposition ference to protest against the document. Six to abortion or artificial birth control as means American Muslim leaders have said they will up in the Straits of Florida by U.S. ships.remained high for a second day. to control population growth. Pope John Paul II soon call for every Islamic country to with- has warned that any deviation from that posi- draw. The Coast Guard said 1,607 had been tion could result in "a serious setback to hu- But the pope's spokesman said that the Holy picked up yesterday by 6 p.m., after a manity." See's delegation to the conference would at- total ofd1,582 were intercepted Tues- Analysts said it was highly unusual for the tend "with the idea of making a contribution to day. That was up sharply from the obtaining a document of consensus." preceding three days, when the num- Vatican to criticize a foreign leader by name ber was:depressed after storms swept and said the criticism of Gore signaled the The Vatican and some Muslim clerics have the straits. deep feelings the issue had engendered within found common ground in their fears that the Officially, Cuba is looking to widen the Church's conservative leadership. United Nations intends to impose liberal, secu- "To take on a particular person who is high lar standards of morality on every nation and the talks to cover the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, in the U.S. government, especially since it's an culture. but U.S. officials said the American important government in a country with a lot From the Vatican's perspective, Gore negotiators will not take this up in of Catholics, just shows they feel very strong- "clearly represents an administration sympa- ly," said Princeton sociologist Gene Burns, au- thetic to feminism, and a world view that is New-York. thor of "The Frontiers of Catholicism: The Pol- grounded in secular, scientific, liberal ideolo- Clinton is willing to expand great- itics of Ideology in a Liberal World." gy," said R. Scott Appleby, director of the ly the aumber of Cubans who are In a speech at the National Press Club last Cushwa Center for the Study of American Ca- able immigrate legally through the American Interests Section in week, Gore said emphatically that "the United tholicism at the University of Notre Dame. Havana. Castro has long wanted ex- States has not sought, does not seek and will Wirth told reporters at a briefing that he did pansion of immigration as recogni- not seek an international right to abortion." not expect the Holy See to agree with the Cai- Gore explicitly praised the pope and the Ro- tion that economics, not politics, is ro consensus on abortion-related language. On man Catholic Church for their work in educa- driving Cubans away. other areas of disagreement with the Vatican, tion, health and economic development in de- way to expand immigration is however, Wirth said the differences "are well veloping nations. to widen the criteria for determining on the way to being resolved." which Cubans have sufficiently close Gore, who will lead the U.S. delegation to He said recent discussions with Monsignor relatives in the United States to be the Cairo conference, said he would push for Diarmid Martin, head of the Holy'See's delega- eligible to move here. Looser rules changes to the document to be debated there tion to Cairo, had narrowed the areas of dis- for letting in refugees can also be so that it would state clearly that each nation pute on recommendations that sex education used, but these will not be subject to has a sovereign right to implement population services be extended to adolescents. Wirth negotiation, a U.S. official said. No policies consistent with its own laws and that said that by the year 2000 there would be changes in law are contemplated. women should never be coerced to have abor- about 1 billion teenagers entering or approach- tions. Overall, the goal is to answer Cas- ing their reproductive years and it is essential tro's complaint that a 1984 agree- But the Vatican has remained alarmed about to provide them with information on responsi- ment' between the two countries— a section of the U.N. document that says wom- ble sexuality and contraception. which potentially would have let en should have "access to safe, effective, af- Wirth also said agreement had been reached 20,000 or more Cubans enter the fordable and acceptable methods of fertility to change the document's language in another United States yearly-was never regulation of their choice." disputed area, a reference to "the family in all carried out. He wants a new agree- "This, in our reading, is synonymous with its forms." He said the wording was meant to ment that ensures that a specified, abortion on demand," Navarro-Valls said. "The include single-parent families and blended fam- largenumber enter yearly. draft [U.N.] population document, which has the United States as its principal sponsor, con- ilies but has been misinterpreted as encourag- Refugees now interned at the U.S. tradicts, in reality, Mr. Gore's statement." ing homosexual unions. navalbase at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Timothy E. Wirth, undersecretary of state Staff writer Boyce Rensberger contributed to for global affairs, rejected the Vatican's claim this report.