Caught in the middle of the politics of the US and Cuba over two Cuban dentists detained here, Prime Minister Perry Christie said there would be no special treatment for Cuban immigrants who land in The Bahamas.
Mr Christie told the House of Assembly yesterday that when Florida Governor Jeb Bush was in The Bahamas on Feb. 20, he told him about The Bahamas government’s policy, while pointing out the “unfairness” in giving special status to Cubans over Haitians.
Mr Christie was referring specifically to the U.S.’ ‘wet-foot/dry-foot’ policy, which usually allows Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay in that country.
However, most Cubans picked up at sea are sent home. Wet-foot/dry-foot was implemented under the Clinton administration in response to the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis. “I have taken to the manner in which their (U.S.) policy was implemented, fundamental objections to, and one in which I have raised my fundamental objection with the president of the United States of America,” said Mr Christie.
“Mr Speaker, I told Governor Bush, that this government of a black country would be discriminating against Haitians in favour of how we deal with Cuban nationals, and I am refusing to do that,” he added.
The Cuban dentists, David Gonzalez-Mejias and Marialys Darias-Mesa, detained at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre do not qualify under wet-foot/dry-foot since they never made it to U.S. soil, having been picked up in Bahamian waters by the U.S. Coast Guard in April 2005.
However, in a surprise move last week, U.S. Republican Representatives Connie Mack and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen threatened to table a motion to include economic sanctions against The Bahamas over the country’s detention of the dentists who were intending to reunite with family members in South Florida.
Political columnists have argued that the situation puts The Bahamas in a precarious corner as the government in 1996 signed a migration treaty with the Castro government which calls for the swift repatriation of Cubans who are found in The Bahamas. That treaty stipulates that all Cubans who come to The Bahamas should be returned within 15 days. The Bahamas government is also mandated to notify the Cuban government within 3 days of Cubans landing here. In addition, the Accord, which was amended in 1998, does not allow for exceptions to repatriation.
With this in mind, Mr Christie further stressed his point, saying, “I told president Bush I am not going to condone it (U.S. policy), not in the Bahamas and I’m going to fight against it.
“The government of The Bahamas will be very exact in its consideration of international treaties, very exact in how it responds to humanitarian considerations, but we’re not going to discriminate, Mr Speaker, and we’re not going to give away The Bahamas,” he added.
The wet foot/dry foot policy is constantly being tested by Cubans as evidenced in a case closer to home, where Cuban migrant Sandra de los Santos hid in a DHL Worldwide Express wooden cargo crate at Nassau International Airport in August 2004. The content of the crate was listed as “boat motor”, valued at $6,000. The woman was flown to Miami, pleaded her case in court, and was finally granted asylum in the U.S. last November. However, a DHL employee, blamed for allowing the woman to illegally enter the U.S. was fired after a two-day suspension.
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
