Mack wants Cuban doctors released from Bahamian prison

Mack wants Cuban doctors released from Bahamian prison

By AMIE PARNES
Scripps Howard News Service
February 06, 2006

WASHINGTON - Rep. Connie Mack asked members of the Florida delegation on
Monday to sign on to a letter that urges the Bahamian Government to free
two Cuban doctors who are being detained in a Nassau prison.

The doctors, David Gonzalez-Mejias and Marialys Darias-Mesa, have been
held in Bahamian custody since April, when they were picked up by the
United States Coast Guard - along with approximately 16 other Cuban
nationals - and turned over to the Bahamian government.

Although the other Cubans on the boat were immediately sent back to the
communist country, Gonzalez-Mejias and Darias-Mesa, were kept in the
Bahamas because they had previously obtained permission to enter the
U.S. legally, said Mack, R-Fort Myers, Monday.

Since then, however, despite meetings between the two governments and
numerous requests to release the doctors, the Bahamian government
continues to "debate, deliberate, and drag its feet," Mack wrote in the
letter to his colleagues, which was obtained by Scripps Howard News Service.

"These doctors need to be freed and released to United States custody so
we can reunite them with their families," Mack wrote.

So far, Sens. Mel Martinez, a Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat,
and Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami,
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, Katherine Harris, R-Longboat Key, Jim
Davis, D-Tampa, Tom Feeney, R-Orlando, have signed on to the letter
urging the doctors' release to US custody.

Mack is expected to send the letter to Bahamian Prime Minister Perry
Christie Tuesday.

"It's been incredibly frustrating," said Jeff Cohen, Mack's chief of
staff. "The US government gave permission for the doctors to live in
America, in freedom."

"The Bahamian government," Cohen added, "is dragging its feet when it
comes to doing what's right."

Gonzalez-Mejias and Darias-Mesa, both dentists, first received the good
news back in 2002: They would be allowed to immigrate to the United States.

Shortly thereafter, however, they were turned down by the Cuban
government, Mack said, simply "because they were doctors."

Although their families were allowed to leave the country,
Gonzalez-Mejias and Darias-Mesa were told to seek permission to leave
the country three years later.

The doctors reapplied in April of 2005. Once again, they were both
turned down by the Cuban government.

Desperate to leave Cuba and reunite with their families who settled in
Tampa and Cape Coral, Fla., respectively, the doctors fled on a
speedboat days later with the 16 other escapees.

When the boat's engine cut out in Bahamian waters, the refugees were
picked up by coast guard officials and handed over the Bahamian officials.

Gonzalez-Mejias and Dorias-Mesa informed officials there of their
American parole papers, Mack said, and the Bahamian government decided
to keep the doctors in Nassau while they would figure out where to send
them.

Mack insists they belong in the United States.

"It's a great humanitarian injustice," Cohen said. "Their families are
here and they've been here. It's long past time for them to be reunited."

Monday, Joshua Sears, the Bahamian Ambassador to the United States said
his cabinet plans to meet to discuss the issue in the next couple of days.

While Sears understands the United States' position, he said his
government is mindful of the agreement they have with the Cuban
government that says that any refugees picked up in Bahamian territory
must be sent back to Cuba.

"We're caught in the middle actually," Sears said. "We have to find a
solution which respects that process and respects our traditional
values," Sears said. "On the surface, it may appear to be a simple
matter, but it's not as simple as it appears."

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