The Tribune

By Ava Turnquest

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

MIAMI-BASED protesters accused the Bahamas government of “reneging” on an agreement struck through US congressman Joe Garcia over Cuban immigrants held at Fox Hill prison and the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

“Democracy Movement” president Ramon Saul Sanchez said the Cuban exile group protesting alleged human rights abuses of immigrants held in the Bahamas was prepared to stop its demonstrations last week had the Bahamas government kept its end of a deal.

Mr Sanchez said: “When we learned that an agreement had been made, we began preparing our signs so that we could do a demonstration saying ‘Thank you Bahamas for having heard us, You are beautiful again’ – that was the message we were going to display.

“We respect the government and the Bahamian people, we don’t want to engage in this type of incident. We would like to have this resolved amicably, but the Bahamas government continues to refuse to investigate these incidents. As long as that happens we need to continue the campaign against the mistreatment of human beings who have not committed crimes. This must not be tolerated.”

Last night, Mr Garcia told The Tribune: “After meeting with Minister Wilchcombe last week and receiving their subsequent letters addressing the mutual agreed upon points, we continue to make daily inquiries to the Bahamian government and will continue to do so until there is a satisfactory resolution to these issues. As I previously stated, I am pleased our two countries will continue to work together as we always have.”

In a letter to Mr Garcia from Sandra Carey, the Bahamas’ Deputy Consul General in Miami, the government has committed itself to address the removal of detainees from maximum security. It was also promised that these detainees would be re-interviewed.

Mr Sanchez said those two conditions are insufficient and vague, and protesters will not rest until all terms have been met.

He said also missing from the letter was a written commitment to comply with international laws and conventions on the treatment of refugees, and persons who request political asylum.

Mr Sanchez said: “We don’t want to humiliate anybody, we don’t want them to come out and say ‘yes these abuses happened and we’re a bad place’. We just want their commitment to really investigate what happened and discipline those who may have been at fault.

“The government said that it has investigated, how can you investigate and not interview the victims?”

Yesterday three Cuban detainees, Mauricio Valdez, Randy Rodriguez and Pedro Parrado, appeared before Supreme Court Justice Carolita Bethel for a habeas corpus application.

Justice Bethel ruled that the court will await the outcome of resettlement interviews for the three before their application is moved forward.

The men were expected to have a full hearing yesterday, however, defence attorney Roger Gomez Jr asked for the case to be adjourned until interviews with the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, have been completed.

Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen agreed to the adjournment, and a date was set for August 21. If the men are ineligible for asylum in a third country, a full hearing has been set for September 9.

Mrs Graham-Allen confirmed that deportation orders had already been signed for the three men; however Parrado’s order had not been filed with the court.

Valdez and Rodriguez are being held at Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP), after they caused disruption at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre. The pair were interviewed by UNHCR’s US counterparts on Wednesday.

Parrado is being held at the Detention Centre and is scheduled to be interviewed by UNHCR officials during the week of August 12.

The trio filed a writ of habeas corpus asking the court to release them based on “various allegations of abuse.”

A writ of habeas corpus is a legal action that requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court. The principle of habeas corpus ensures that a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention—that is, detention lacking sufficient cause or evidence. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to the prisoner’s aid.

A writ of habeas corpus is a summons with the force of a court order; it is addressed to the custodian (a prison official for example) and demands that a prisoner be taken before the court, and that the custodian present proof of authority, allowing the court to determine whether the custodian has lawful authority to detain the prisoner.