As the government remains quiet on the decision it has made with respect to two Cuban doctors being detained at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, debate over what their fate should be continues to generate discussion in various circles.
Claire Hepburn, an attorney at Graham Thompson & Co, was among those who weighed in on the issue on Monday during an on-the-street interview with The Bahama Journal.
Ms. Hepburn said the dilemma has figuratively positioned The Bahamas between a rock and a hard place.
“If we allow them to go back to Cuba the United States would be annoyed; if we allow them to go to the United States, Cuba would be annoyed also,” she said.
“We have a decision to make regarding [the nation] we would like to annoy least of all. What concerns me about this is, it has been a considerable period of time since the issue arose and I would have thought that it could have been dealt with by now.”
Ms. Hepburn said, however, she understands that there are matters of international relations that the government has to take seriously into consideration.
“There are also issues, like if the United States Coast Guard picked [the doctors] up then why were they delivered [to The Bahamas]?”
During a recent visit to The Bahamas, Florida Governor Jeb Bush highlighted the issue during talks with Prime Minister Perry Christie, noting that it was a concern of his constituents.
Cuban-Americans in Florida have been lobbying for the Bahamian government to make a decision on the two Cuban doctors they claim are the holders of valid U.S. visas.
Pastor Davis Ferguson of the House of Praise also spoke with the Bahama Journal on Monday, saying the government should not feel pressured into sending the doctors to the United States.
“Sometimes you need to let certain things slide because those doctors are very important to Cuba,” he said. “So if [the government] sends them back to Cuba, I think that would resolve the conflict.”
Meanwhile, Rev. Dr. C. B. Moss, who is also the vice president of the senate, also offered an opinion.
“The ideal solution is to have a third country accept them with the understanding that that will be acceptable to the United States and Cuba and failing that I think we should just send them back to Cuba,” Rev. Moss said.
Odessa Gibson, a lawyer in the Attorney General’s office, said she is saddened that the controversy continues to loom.
Ms. Gibson said that when the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the Cubans, they should have been taken to Florida because it was reported that they possessed U.S. visas.
“If these persons had visas, genuine visas issued by the United States government, then they should have been taken to the United States,” Ms. Gibson said.
“But [the U.S Coast Guard] brought them here, and now the country is in a big quandary because on one hand we look like devils by the Cuban nationalists in Florida and on the other hand we have our own national interest to protect.”
Florida Congressman Connie Mack, along with fellow U.S Republican representative, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, had threatened to push for economic sanctions against The Bahamas if authorities here do not free the doctors.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell said recently, however, “It would profit no one to go around threatening people about economic boycotts-we spend $1.4 billion in the Florida economy (annually).”
Prime Minister Perry Christie recently told members of parliament that the government had reached a decision on what to do with the Cuban doctors detained at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, but he did not reveal what that decision was.
An immigration official confirmed on Monday that the doctors were still being detained at the centre.
By: Royanne Forbes-Darville, The Bahama Journal
