The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A CONCERNED mother wants answers about the circumstances that led to her husband to being sentenced in Cuba to 18 years in prison.

Antonia Ferguson Green, 28, told The Tribune she has spent the last three years seeking to meet Bahamian officials who could explain her husband’s arrest in Cuba and subsequent conviction for drug trafficking.

Mrs Green said her husband, a fisherman, went out to sea with three other men in January 2012. She said she reported him missing shortly after that.

However, he was picked up in Cuba, charged and convicted, she said.

Documents seen by this newspaper suggest that Jamaric Greene, 29, was convicted in 2012 of drug trafficking after attempting to “carry out an operation of transfer of (marijuana).”

Cuban lawyers argued that after Mr Green and three others were rescued in Cuban waters, authorities determined that the men were attempting to smuggle drugs when they later found “bundles” of drugs in the water.

The lawyers argued that the crew threw the drugs overboard “two or three” days before they were rescued and that it took some hours for authorities to discover this.

Mrs Green, however, insists that her husband was framed. Now she said he is “rotting” away in Cuba’s “inhumane” prison.

She said Mr Green has written many letters to Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell and National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage seeking their help.

In one hand-written letter addressed to Mr Mitchell, a copy of which was obtained by The Tribune, Mr Green wrote: “I know you may be very busy and have lots of other cases to deal with, but all I’m asking is for someone to take some time and look into certain things in my case that really needs to be addressed and looked into. I will list them all below in an orderly form. My name is Jamaric Charmon Green and I’m in need of help and a chance for a fair trial.”

Mr Green said he and the other men were “denied phone calls or the ability to retain a lawyer” when they were rescued. Among other things, they were “verbally and physically abused and forced to give false statements and sign papers which (were written in Spanish),” he alleged.

While Mrs Green is convinced her husband is innocent, she said what would comfort her is to have her questions about the matter answered by an official familiar with the case.

“I can’t believe your spouse could be arrested and convicted of a crime in another country and no one from the government would make the effort to at least sit down with you and address your questions,” she said.

“I feel all alone in this battle to find the truth.”