Targeting passengers on Bahamas-bound cruise ships, members of Cuban exile groups gathered at Watson Island, Florida at the weekend in their latest protest against the Bahamian government and a call for a tourism boycott.
Placard-carrying demonstrators and trucks displaying large banners reading “Fair Treatment of All Migrants in The Bahamas” and “Bahamas, Be Beautiful Again, Respect Human Rights,” declared to passengers that The Bahamas “mistreats” Cubans who land and are detained in the country.
According to international press reports, the exile groups were Movimiento Democracia and Agenda: Cuba.
“We are trying to send a message to the Bahamian government,” Tomas Rodriguez of Agneda: Cuba, was quoted as saying in the Miami Herald. “They need to resolve the issue of all the migrants in their detention centre.”
News of this most recent protest was carried by Florida television stations and Florida newspapers. Television reports showed passengers on Carnival’s “Imagination” flocking to the top deck to observe the protest. Some waved while others captured the scene on camera.
The detention of two Cuban dentists – David Gonzalez-Mejias and Marialys Darias-Mesa and the recent alleged beating of a Miami television reporter by a Defence Force Guard, have generated a controversy over the treatment of Cubans held in The Bahamas.
In response, two U.S. Congress members have said they will ask the federal government to pressure Bahamian authorities to release the dentists and improve treatment of migrants.
The threat is among the growing pressure faced by the government to release the dentists to U.S. authorities.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell has assured that the government is taking the matter seriously and that officials are working to resolve the situation as expeditiously as possible.
He has explained that The Bahamas is committed to the migration accord signed with the Cuban government.
However, Prime Minister Perry Christie announced last week that the government had made a decision on what to do with the dentists, a decision that would be revealed “after some formal arrangements are in place.”
Leader of the Official Opposition and former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has also weighed in on the situation regarding the Cuban dentists, reminding the government last week that while a migration accord exists between The Bahamas and Cuban governments, The Bahamas has also signed an international convention relating to refugees and the grant of political asylum.
Saturday’s protest was the latest in a series of protests staged by Cuban exile groups. The first was held in front of the Bahamas Consulate in downtown Miami on February 8th.
The protests were sparked by the alleged beating of Miami journalist Mario Vallejo, by a defence force officer posted at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.
Mr. Vallejo was part of a news team from WLTV-Univision 23, dispatched to New Providence to investigate reports by family members of the detainees that they were being abused.
The reporter has alleged that he was on a public phone when the officer attacked him. The Bahamian government immediately launched an investigation into the allegation and the investigation has been completed, its results have not yet been released.
In the case of the Cuban dentists, who were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard on a Bahamian cay in April 2005, advocates want them released to U.S. authorities as opposed to returning them to Cuba.
An opinion piece in the Miami Herald last week accused the government of fearing retribution from Cuba more than valuing its relationship with the United States.
Bahamian government officials were not available for comment on Saturday’s protest up to press time on Sunday.
The Bahama Journal
