The two Cubans who made it to Florida's shore say the U.S. Border Patrol made them pose with pictures of Fidel Castro  MESSAGE BOARD: US/Cuba relations RELATED VIDEO CNN's Pat Neal reports on the rafters' controversial entrance into the United States Windows Media 28K 80K

July 2, 1999
Web posted at: 7:52 p.m. EDT (2352 GMT)

In this story: Forced to pose with pictures of Castro Controversy began with arrival RELATED STORIES, SITES

MIAMI (CNN) -- U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno on Friday ordered a Justice Department investigation into allegations that U.S. border patrol agents verbally abused the six Cuban rafters whose final steps toward freedom were captured on television Tuesday.

A Border Patrol agent allegedly involved in the incident was temporarily reassigned to duties that do not involve contact with detainees, federal authorities said.

"We will simply not tolerate abuse of individuals in our custody and will take the strongest possible measures in response to all such allegations," Reno and Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

The latest accusations of wrongdoing come on the heels of a U.S. Coast Guard investigation of allegations that the six were abused by the Coast Guard while trying to make it to the South Florida shore.

Forced to pose with pictures of Castro

Using their newfound freedom of speech, two Cuban rafters went on Miami radio to claim that Border Patrol agents verbally abused them, mocked their journey and forced them to pose with pictures of Fidel Castro.

"They said, 'look at the camera,' and when I looked at the camera they took our picture and said, 'hey, this picture is going to Cuba,'" one man said.

The rafters also said a Border Patrol officer called one of them an offensive Spanish term for a gay man because he wore an earring.

"The U.S. Border Patrol will not tolerate or condone any such behavior," a spokesman for the agency said.

"It's outrageous that these people would be forced to pose with a picture of Fidel Castro," said radio host Ninoska Perez, who also is a spokeswoman for the Cuban American National Foundation.

Controversy began with arrival

This latest controversy comes on the heels of the rafters' dramatic televised arrival in Florida.

The six men knew making it to land would mean freedom under U.S. law. But U.S. policy also requires all rafters stopped at sea to be returned to Cuba.

After the Cubans refused to stop their attempts to make it ashore, the Coast Guard doused them with fire hoses and used pepper spray on them. Two of the men managed to step on the beach. The other four were picked up by the Coast Guard.

The plank the Cubans say they used to row their raft

All were released after two days of angry demonstrations by Miami's large Cuban-American population. The demonstrations t shut down two major thoroughfares.

The Border Patrol believes the six refugees were smuggled to the United States.

Agents showed a plank the rafters claimed they used to row from Cuba. But the Border Patrol says the Cubans were not excessively sunburned or dehydrated, and their hands show no blisters from rowing the 225-miles from the Cuban port of Caibarien to Surfside, just north of Miami Beach.

The six men say they were not smuggled.

So far this year, more than 800 Cubans have been picked up at sea. Now many Cuban-Americans want a change in U.S. policy, to allow rafters the right to immigrate. The U.S. State Department said it has no plans to do that, fearing a policy change could encourage thousands of Cubans to attempt the dangerous crossing.

CNN Correspondent Pat Neal and Reuters contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.