Claim countrymen are fed dog food and tortured at Carmichael Detention Centre

By MINDELL SMALL Guardian Staff Reporter mindell@nasguard.com

A group of Cubans in Miami staged two days of demonstrations against The Bahamas' "treatment" and possible deportation of Cuban detainees at the Carmichael Rd. Detention Centre.

The demonstrations, held between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. outside The Bahamas Consulate on Friday and Saturday, followed a similar protest at the Consulate on Dec. 3rd. The protestors are pressuring The Bahamas government to transport the Cubans from the Centre to a third country, preferably Nicaragua, which has reportedly agreed to issue visas to Cubans fleeing their homeland.

The protesting Cubans maintain that their countrymen in The Bahamas are not economic refugees but political ones who should not be returned to Cuba. They reportedly cited UN agreements signed by The Bahamas regarding the treatment of refugees.

Apart from pointing to conventions, some of the protestors, determined to damage The Bahamas' reputation abroad, reportedly held signs urging people not to visit here. One sign alleged Cubans are given dog food at the Detention Centre, and another read, "Bahamas tortures Cuban refugees."

On Saturday, Nestor Sands, Vice Consul Bahamas Consulate General at the Miami office, was informed by Officer Ray Socorro of the City of Miami Police Department that the Cuban community applied for two permits to demonstrate in Miami.

Demonstrations were not only held in downtown Miami in front of the Consulate General but also at Bayside near the Port of Miami entrance. Barricades were set up by the police to prevent the protestors from entering the Ingraham Building. Police also had back-up officers on standby for the demonstrations; however, the extra officers were not needed, as the event reportedly did not turn violent.

The weekend demonstrations in Miami stemmed from Thursday's uprising at the Detention Centre where Cubans staged an escape attempt and set fire to one of the facility's four dormitories.

In that incident, eleven Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers and nine Cubans were hurt. All but one of the approximately half a dozen Cubans who escaped, were captured. The Department of Immigration said a Cuban man - Fransisco Napoles Valdez - remains at large. Twenty-five Cuban detainees remain at the Centre while 33, suspected of involvement in some way with the uprising, were transferred to Her Majesty's Prison.

Amnesty seeks answers

On Friday, human rights group Amnesty International, which previously called for an investigation into alleged "abuses" of detainees at the Centre, reiterated its call.

"The inquiry must be able to make recommendations, arising from its findings, on how the organisation of immigration detention conditions could be changed or improved," Amnesty said.

Amnesty in its October report charged that on Oct. 01 detention staff beat two Cuban asylum seekers with batons and held a gun to their heads. On Oct. 9, it said several Haitians who tried to escape were allegedly beaten by employees and then denied medical care.

However, Minister of Labour and Immigration, Vincent Peet, said after a thorough "independent" investigation no evidence of physical abuse or inhumane treatment was found at the Centre.

Many people, including human rights activist Eliezir Regnier, questioned Mr Peet's claim that the investigation was independent, saying the inquiry amounted to a group investigating itself, i.e., one arm of the government, the police, investigating another arm - immigration.

Centre returning to normal

Mr Peet also held a Friday press conference on the uprising, saying the Centre had returned to some degree of normalcy.

Also at that briefing was Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell who informed the public that a group of Cubans was protesting in Miami against The Bahamas. He said throughout the Friday demonstration, the Consulate remained open.

"The Consul also reports that a number of persons have been calling up using, as we say in The Bahamas, bad words over the phone. But the staff at the Mission have been asked to simply remain calm and collected and to go about doing their work," Minister Mitchell said.

He said all the various groups who made inquiries, were briefed about the incident in an attempt to quell rumours that had been spreading in the Cuban-American community in South Florida. The worst of those rumours was that people died in Thursday's incident.

"And we have made it clear that no one died in the incident. We've also made it clear that the reports of abuse of detainees are false and without foundation," Mr Mitchell said.

The Detention Centre was built to house migrants who come to The Bahamas without proper travel documentation. Before they are repatriated, their status must first be determined.