400 Migrants Arrived With Cuba’s OK

Israel confirmed that 400 Cuban Jews were brought to the country in the past five years in a secret operation that had the blessing of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Cuban immigrants interviewed at a center in the southern coastal town of Ashkelon said the operation was common knowledge in Cuba. But a spokesman for the small Jewish community in Cuba angrily denied any secret operation, saying some Cuban Jews had left for Israel, but not in high numbers and not as part of a secret pact. Israel and Cuba do not have diplomatic ties, but Castro is known to want to improve Havana’s image abroad and encourage the U.S. to consider lifting a nearly 40-year-old economic embargo that has hurt Cuba’s economy.