A Coast Guard move to prevent small U.S. boats from entering Cuban waters was denounced Thursday by New Jersey and Florida lawmakers as unconstitutional and a surrender of foreign policy to Fidel Castro.
The dispute arose as Cuban-American exile groups planned to leave south Florida in planes and boats to demonstrate Saturday in international waters and airspace near Cuba.
A Coast Guard policy toughened last week allows Coast Guard officers to ask demonstrators aboard boats smaller than 50 meters if they intend to cross into Cuban waters. Organizers with the Democracia exile group already have pledged not to enter those waters.
The Coast Guard has no authority to enter Cuban waters but can seize vessels that enter Cuban territory and then return to international waters.
Coast Guard officials say they want to protect demonstrators’ lives and prevent an international conflict.
Cuban-American lawmakers in Washington dismissed the Coast Guard explanation.
“I’m sure, in the long and proud history of the Coast Guard, it’s never been faced with as embarrassing and humiliating an order,” said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).
Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said the policy violates protesters’ 1st Amendment rights of free speech and assembly, as well as their 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Gary Bracken said the policy was devised after consultations among the Coast Guard, State Department, National Security Council, Federal Aviation Administration and Defense Department.
“The driving force behind this rule was to enhance the safety of participants in these memorial flotillas,” Bracken said. “We’re not trying to keep these folks from doing this. We’re trying to get them to understand they need to do it safely.”
