JOHNSON CITY, Texas -- President Johnson today announced completion of arrangements with Cuba for transportation of between 3,000 and 4,000 refugees a month into this country aboard U.S. chartered air flights.
"I am pleased with the understanding which has been reached," Johnson said of the arrangement which calls for shipment of Cuban refugees by air to begin no later than Dec. 1.
"It is an important forward step in carrying out the declaration I made on Oct. to the Cuban people," he added. "I said that those who seek refuge here will find it. That continues to be the policy of the American people."
Press Secretary Bill D. Meyers said that the United States would charter commercial planes to bring Cuban refugees here at the rate of between 3,000 and 4,000 a month or a daily rate of 120 to 150.
The flights will originate at Varadero airport, about 60 miles east of Havana, and terminate in Miami.
The plan was worked out in negotiations between the Swiss Embassy in Havana, representing this government, and the Cuban Foreign Ministry representing Premier Fidel Castro.
