By Thea Jarvis

The Cuban detainees in the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, some of whom have refused food to highlight feelings of futility and frustration, are men caught in the middle.

Flanking them on either side is a Reagan administration still involved in defining policy with respect to the over 1,700 Cubans held at the “Big A” and a prison authority which must adhere to federal guidelines regarding such detainees. Joining the Cubans somewhere near the center of the triad is the United States Catholic Conference which, despite odds, is attempting to aid in the processing of the Cubans, now one year into confinement.

About 125,000 Cubans entered the United States during the “Freedom Flotilla” a year ago. Although most have been released into American society, the Atlanta Penitentiary still lays claim to 1,763 men, over 1,400 of whom have been ordered out of the States because of criminal acts committed in Cuba.

Prior to February of this year, ongoing processing of the Cubans, though slow and tedious, had resulted in the release of slightly under 100 of the detainees. But a federal order issued last week has tentatively halted further release.

Manuel De la Torre Rodriguez, the Cuban inmate who ended a hunger strike May 22 after 21 days without food, received assurances from Atlanta Penitentiary warden Jack Hanberry that help would be sought in the seemingly dead-end dilemma.

In Cuba, where his family still resides, De la Torre was in the army and gave away a truckload of food to some of his hungry countrymen. This was one of the reasons for De la Torre’s imprisonment in a Cuban jail, according to Tom Stavran, program coordinator for the United States Catholic Conference assigned to Atlanta.

Stavran describes De la Torre as “very determined, very sincere, and not off in the clouds” about his commitment to seeking freedom. He stated that De la Torre was recently contacted by a prospective sponsor in Miami who came to the prison and “was impressed by him and what he’s trying to do.” Federal regulations, however, prohibit resettlement for the detainees in the Florida area because of the already large influx of Cuban refugees there.

Another Cuban inmate who opted to join the hunger strike was Mario Solano Vasquez, author of the “freedom of flowers” slogan – liberation or death.

In a letter to Martha and Tomas Antona, Our Lady of Assumption parishioners who have worked unstintingly on behalf of the Cubans, Solano announced his decision to draw attention to the plight of the detainees.

Martha Antona described Solano as a “plantado,” a Cuban who opted to fight the Castro-imposed communism rather than betray allegiance to his homeland. He spent 11 years in Cuban prisons clad only in underwear – he refused to wear prison garb.

According to the Antonas, the Cuban population in the Atlanta Penitentiary includes political prisoners who opposed Castro’s communist rule, as well as mentally disturbed individuals who “shouldn’t be there.” Some Cubans who have already been released to sponsors were freed because their crimes in Cuba had only been “minor offenses,” Tomas Antona explained.

A spokesman for the USCC in Atlanta has indicated that his organization will proceed under the assumption that all the Cuban detainees will be released.

The legal ambiguities of the Cuban problem abound. The status of the detainees alone is a complicated issue. According to Bill Noonan, spokesman for the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, the Cubans are not refugees but “entrants who have had exclusion hearings.” Under normal conditions, they would be deported to their country of origin. Cuban, however, refuses to accept them.

“We’re at an impasse,” said Noonan. “People get stuck in between these things.”

Federal policy on the Cubans is still in the process of formulation. Most recently, the United States Attorney General put a hold on the release of any more Cubans from the Atlanta Penitentiary until the Reagan administration comprehensively defines its position.

“Any decision with regard to the Cubans must be made on the national level,” said Tyrus E. Minnix, District Director of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Services in Atlanta. “The Department of State is in diplomatic negotiations with the Cuban government and has been for a considerable length of time. At this time we have no way of knowing what the outcome will be.”

Meanwhile, said Minnix, exclusion hearings are still being accorded, but the review of individual cases – a later stage in processing – has been suspended.

USCC’s Tom Stavran, who has been directly involved in processing the Cubans, questions their legal status. “What laws do they come under? Are they to be treated as regular prisoners? The law is ambiguous – everybody is treading new waters here.”

Martha Antona, faced with the breakdown in federal machinery regarding the Cubans, left her job with the USCC about four weeks ago out of sheer frustration.

“I realized nothing was going to change. My boss came back (from Washington) with bad news – we had to slow down everything. We would get no more helpers,” she said. “It’s so sad.”

Her husband, Tomas, who serves as president of the Atlanta Committee on Behalf of Cuban Prisoners, feels that deportation to Cuba should be a matter of choice left to the individuals, who can then prove their determination to make a success of life in the States.

Some who had been refused entry in the States continued to be unwelcome in their homeland.

“Those who were sent back were tied up (by Cuban officials), put on boats and set out to seas,” Antona said.

Prior to February of this year, immigration authorities would check Atlanta cases and give them to the USCC for processing. The USCC in turn would forward individual cases to Immigration and Naturalization Services headquarters in Washington, according to Antona.

But last February, INS authorities decided to move their Cuban operation from Washington to Atlanta to expedite processing. The Washington machinery was indeed halted, but was never resumed on-site in Atlanta, Thomas Antona said. Since there is now no feudal authority to approve Cubans for release, they must remain incarcerated until the federal arm of the processing system is again begun.

Last week, 10 of the men who were approved by INS prior to the February cutoff were not permitted to leave the penitentiary in Atlanta.

“We’ve been trying to do whatever we can to help,” said Antona. “We’re now trying to get government attention. There is no action, even for those ready to leave. These men have reached a point where they have tried every legal way, every possible way to get out. At this point, they are desperate.”

While nations roar and bureaucrats rumble, life inside the Atlanta Penitentiary goes on despite a moratorium on the release of the Cubans. “We’ve got a job to perform,” said penitentiary spokesman Bill Noonan. “As far as possible, they’re being treated like federal inmates, although they’re really pre-trial inmates awaiting disposition. Our official position is that we’re going to have to hold them as long as we are required.”

Being treated like federal inmates means that any Cubans who choose to go on hunger strike will not be allowed to fast until death, like IRA protesters in British prisons. Federal regulations are clear on this point, according to Noonan. Any steps necessary to keep an inmate alive will be undertaken.

On the brighter side, prison activities for the Cubans are ongoing. “We still try to have programs and classes for the inmates. For example, 750 of the men are working at the institution to earn money,” Noonan said.

The USCC, whose hands are tied as far as actual release of the prisoners is concerned, likewise has a job to do in the interim.

“We are doing administrative work, planning personnel needs, getting papers in order, expanding the operation. We are still trying to get sponsors verified by the archdiocese,” Tom Stavran said.

But Martha Antona, who daily hears the grief in the voices of Cuban inmates and their families who call her home to share their frustration, views the situation with frank dismay.

“It’s a hot ball and they’re playing around with it,” she said.