Cubans hole up in Mexican embassy

Cuba yesterday threw a huge security cordon around the Mexican Embassy in Havana, where 21 asylum-seekers spent the night after they crashed a bus into the compound, sparking violence and chaos in the nearby streets.

President Fidel Castro's Government blamed the break-in on a rumour that Mexico was opening its doors to Cuban asylum-seekers, saying an anti-communist radio station in Florida, Radio Marti, had broadcast "the false and evil" news into the Caribbean island eight times during the day.