By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday urged Cuba to lower exit fees for those wishing to migrate but said bilateral agreements on immigration were working, despite recent evidence of organised human smuggling.
The two countries held their ninth round of talks since 1994 on implementing agreements whereby the United States turns back most illegal ``rafters'' trying to reach American shores from Cuba but takes 20,000 immigrants a year who apply through legal channels.
``In the main, the agreements are working,'' said John Hamilton, deputy assistant secretary of state for Central America, the Caribbean and Cuba, who conducted the talks with Ricardo Alarcon, Cuba's high-powered parliamentary president.
``Illegal migration attempts across the Florida Straits -- even with the recent alien smuggling -- are at historically low levels,'' Hamilton said.
``This means lives are not being lost and we are providing a channel for a minimum of 20,000 Cubans to immigrate a year and both governments are fully committed to carrying out these accords,'' he added.
But Hamilton said the high fees associated with various steps of the immigration process in Cuba led many Cubans to abandon the effort to leave the island legally.
``I leave each of these sessions having pressed this point,'' he said, adding that Cuba did lower the fees last year but needed to do so again.
This was particularly true for those entering a lottery for their visas, as this group did not have as much access to remittances from families in the United States, he added.
Earlier this month, the U.S. interests section in Havana staged another lottery -- the third since 1994 -- to determine who would get visas. The lotteries account for the majority of the annual quota of immigrants.
In recent months, U.S. authorities say that smuggling rings dropping migrants off in fast boats appear to be behind most flights, unlike in previous years when Cubans often put to sea in rafts or leaky boats in risky individual efforts.
Hamilton said ``we spent a great deal of time talking about this,'' adding that both sides were ``determined to put a stop'' to the recent organised smuggling.
Coast Guard crews have rescued 102 migrants at sea so far this month in a summer influx of fleeing Cubans.
The accord between Havana and Washington ended a policy of virtual automatic asylum for Cubans. Unless they can convince immigration officials they will suffer persecution if they are sent back, most are repatriated within days.
Hamilton also warned Cubans against braving minefields to enter the U.S. military base at Guantanamo in southeastern Cuba. He said there was no hope of entering the United States through this route and only a slight hope of being accepted by a third country.
Alarcon did not address the press after the talks conducted at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, across the street from U.N. headquarters.
19:00 06-29-98
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