A Cabinet minister admitted yesterday that the Bahamas is in a “difficult situation” over the fate of two Cuban dentists who are locked in the dreaded Carmichael Road detention centre.
Immigration minister Vincent Peet said the matter was still under review as both the United States and Cuba want the men who were picked up by the US Coast Guard in Bahamian waters while trying to flee their homeland.
His comments came after Nassau’s notorious detention centre – site of last week’s alleged brutal beating of a foreign journalist by a Defence Force officer – came under international fire again, this time from the prestigious Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper has taken up the cause of the Cuban dentists; who have been held at Carmichael Road for the last ten months after trying to reach the United States in a go-fast boat.
It claims the Bahamas government is holding the men because it is afraid of offending Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who wants them sent back to Cuba.
Having assured the Americans that the men would not be sent home, the Bahamas government is now caught between two sworn enemies while the dentists languish in what the Wall Street Journal calls “an unsanitary prison with lice infested pigeons, abusive guards and boys up to 14 years of age in the women’s barracks.”
The latest press assault on the detention centre follows last week’s vicious backlash over the alleged beating incident when Florida TV stations gave widespread coverage to anti-Bahamas demonstrations.
In a comment piece yesterday, the Wall Street Journal depicted the dentists’ incarceration as a “tragic example” of Castro’s ability to imprison Cubans in other domiciles once they’ve escaped his government’s clutches.
The newspaper accuses Dr. Castro of blocking their release from the Bahamas to the US to join their wives and children.
The men involved, David Gonzalez Mejias and Marialys Darias Mesa, are not law-breakers but men who first tried to emigrate from Cuba by way of the visa “lottery” the Americans hold annually for Cubans.
Although they won visas in the lottery, Dr. Castro would not let them leave Cuba “because their medical training made them too important to spare,” says the paper.
The dentists sent their families to the States and waited the three prescribed years before re-applying. When refused again in 2005, they made a fast-boat escape, finally breaking down in Bahamian waters.
After being picked up by the US Coast Guard, they were deposited with Bahamas authorities. Denied political refugee status, they were “dumped” in Carmichael Road.
The Wall Street Journal says the Americans now want the men freed and are ready to grant visas. But the Bahamas government is refusing their release because of a memorandum of understanding with Castro saying fleeing ‘rafters’ will be sent back to Cuba, it adds.
“The real problem is that the Bahamas fears Castro and the retaliation he might unleash – especially a mass refugee exodus – if the escapees are allowed to reach liberty in America. So its compromise with the dictator has been to keep the doctors separated from their families.”
The newspaper adds: “The Bahamas is part of the British Commonwealth and, the last time we checked, a civilised place. Now would be a good time to prove this by releasing the dentists, whose only crime is fleeing for freedom.”
But Mr Peet said: “Both countries want the men. We have not yet made a decision. It’s a very sensitive, delicate situation – that’s why it requires more tolerance and patience.”
Mr Peet refuted claims that the men were to be deported yesterday. He said no deadline had been set for completion of what was an “in-depth and thorough review” of the matter.
Meanwhile, the detention centre continues to be the subject of fierce condemnation on the Internet.
One observer said the centre was “symptomatic of the Bahamas’ third world mentality” while Amnesty International called for the removal of Defence Force officers from the base.
This follows repeated reports of abuse at the centre, and allegations that treatment of children there is in breach of international law.
In last week’s incident, a foreign journalist was beaten, allegedly by a Defence Force officer while making a payphone call outside the compound. His face was split by a baton and his head struck a car bumper as he fell.
At a weekend press conference, Prime Minister Perry Christie said all concerned parties now accepted that the incident was being properly investigated.
He described anti-Bahamas demonstrations in Miami as “unfair and unjustified” and said relations with Florida should ensure that the matter be dealt with in a more constructive manner.
Source: οΎ The Tribune
