HAVANA -- (AP) -- The government called out 300,000 citizens to gather late Tuesday afternoon to mourn the loss of 30 migrants off the Florida coast, and to protest U.S. policies it blames for their deaths.

 The gathering at 5 p.m. EDT will ``manifest condemnation of the murderous Cuban Adjustment Act, which has taken a high toll in human lives,'' the Communist Party daily Granma said Tuesday in an editorial announcing the gathering.

 Havana says the 1966 U.S. law encourages it citizens to undertake dangerous sea journeys by allowing Cubans who reach American soil to avoid repatriation and apply for U.S. residency.

 The afternoon gathering "will also be an expression of mourning for the innocent children, whose brief and happy lives were cut short ... as a consequence of the criminal policies long pursued against our country,'' Granma said.

 The government on Monday night accused its enemies in exile of creating false hope among relatives of 30 migrants missing at sea for more than a week by spreading unconfirmed reports that the group was rescued by a Panamanian freighter.

 The reports, rejected by the Panamanian government, surfaced over the weekend when callers in the United States allegedly telephoned relatives of the missing migrants in Cuba to tell them about the supposed rescue.

 Tuesday's editorial said called the reports ``a cynical and deliberately fabricated lie'' and said that the ``cruel and gross maneuver aimed at deception and misinformation was arranged by Miami.''

 In Panama, Jose Isaza, director of the National Maritime Service, said Monday that ``we have nothing concrete'' about the reports. Ilka de Bares, director of Panama's Immigration Service, also denied knowing anything about such a rescue.

 On the Cuban government's "Round Table'' television program Monday evening, moderator Randy Alonso accused Cuban exiles ``of trying to use the deaths of Cuban citizens ... for their cruel political games.''

 Havana first publicly mentioned the reports on Sunday evening, warning the missing migrants' relatives not to have false hopes about their loved ones' fate.

 Relatives in Cuba who received calls about the supposed rescue, ``should have many reservations,'' Havana said Sunday.

 U.S. Coast Guard crews on Wednesday stopped searching the Florida Straits for the 30 Cubans, whose boat capsized in rough seas last weekend. No survivors have been found.

 Family members of the migrants reported the group left Cuba in a speedboat on Nov. 16 and was expected in Florida by Nov. 17.

 American authorities last week found a capsized white, 30-foot twin-engine craft that believe was carrying the Cubans, including a dozen or more children, on a
 clandestine trip to the United States.

                                    © 2001