Cubans raft to Little Cayman

Cubans raft to Little Cayman

Seven Cuban migrants managed to find their way to
Little Cayman in this dilapidated raft, which was
described by residents on the Island as the worst
they had ever seen
Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A raft made from planks of wood and fifty-gallon drums for flotation
reached Little Cayman with seven Cubans on board Wednesday evening, 8
March.

The primitive vessel, described by residents as one of the worst that
has landed on Little Cayman, broke apart when it was taken out of the water.
According to Little Cayman Police Constable Simon Bennett, the men
landed on the eastern tip of the Island and spent the night on the
beach. He said the seven men were “a friendly bunch and no problem at all”.

The Cubans, who all appeared in good health, were spotted by a motorist
as they were walking from the Light House, heading west. The men were
detained and taken to the Little Cayman Police Station.

Transportation to Cayman Brac by boat, however, was ruled out since the
weather was too rough. Therefore, ten immigration officers were flown in
by a chartered Cayman Airways Express plane to pick up the seven Cubans
and take them to Grand Cayman.

According to an official release, once on Grand Cayman, they were taken
to the Immigration Reception Centre.

The release states that details were taken from each individual
regarding where they are from, where they departed from and their
intended destination. They will continue to be housed at the reception
centre in accordance with the guidelines of the MOU.

The official release quoted Immigration and District Administration
officials as saying the Cubans became stranded “when the vessel they
were traveling in received damage and began taking in water”.

This latest group brings the number of Cuban migrants to land on Little
Cayman to about forty so far this year, said PC Bennett. He said the
majority of these stopped first on Cayman Brac.

Meanwhile, Cayman Net News has been told that an investigation into
serious allegations of misconduct concerning the detention of a group of
Cuban migrants in December is still underway.

On 6 January, Net News reported that a group of Cuban refugees had made
written allegations that they were forced to leave their vessel after it
was rammed and damaged by the Cayman Protector, the Drug Task
Force/RCIPS marine patrol vessel.

They further claimed that Cayman officers pointed guns at the group,
which included eight children, and threatened to sink their boat to
force them to disembark.

They alleged that ten out of the original thirty-seven Cubans continued
on their journey, despite the fact that the Cayman enforcement boat
damaged their homemade craft.

Chief Secretary, the Hon George McCarthy, told Net News at the time he
had seen the claims made by the Cubans in their written report and he
would be referring the matter to Commissioner of Police Stuart Kernohan.

Deputy Police Commissioner Rudolf Dixon said in January that the RCIPS
Internal Complaints and Disciplines Department, headed by Inspector
Bruce Moore, was in charge of the investigation into these allegations.

Mr Dixon oversees this department.

RCIPS Media Liaison Officer Deborah Denis said last week that the case
is still being investigated by a senior police officer, but that the
police were unable to release any more details at this time.

A previous allegation of misconduct over the government dealings with
Cuban refugees appears to have been shelved.

Cayman Net News reported (September 14, 2005) on allegations that a
group of Cuban migrants purchased a boat from a senior government
official on Cayman Brac.

The allegations are included in reports gathered by several American
Federal agencies, including the US Coast Guard, Homeland Security and
the FBI, for a murder investigation in the US.

The agents were investigating the disappearance between Cayman Brac and
Texas of a Cuban migrant who left the Brac on 1 July 2004, with six
other migrants.

In the course of these Federal investigations, the Cubans made
statements that the boat in which they left Cayman Brac was purchased
from a senior immigration officer. The purchase included an outboard
motor and fuel, it is alleged.

Net News asked Chief Secretary, the Hon George McCarthy, at the time, if
the allegations were true and, if so, whether this constituted a crime.

Mr McCarthy said that the matter had been referred to Mr Dixon, Acting
Commissioner of Police at the time, who would likely carry out an
investigation based on details provided by this paper.

Although the allegations of assisting migrants to leave the country
illegally might be a breach of a section of Immigration Law beyond the
ambit of the police, the case appears to have been only investigated by
the RCIPS.

Mr Dixon told Net News in January that the law prescribes which
immigration laws they could and could not enforce. In other words, some
immigration laws are outside the ambit of the RCIPS, and this situation
is the same for customs laws, confirmed Mr Dixon.

For the police to investigate a law enforcement officer under a
different department, it would have to be for a criminal matter, said Mr
Dixon. In the case of the alleged sale of the boat to Cuban migrants, he
said the police had found that no criminal laws had been breached.

As far as Net News is aware, no further investigation into the matter
has been made, and no statement has been issued from the Chief
Secretary’s office.

Evaristo Suarez, a Cuban living in Toronto, is a relative of some of the
Cubans who claimed to have been rammed by the government vessel.

He said all twenty-seven were officially granted temporary permission to
land by Chief Immigration Officer Franz Manderson on 2 February, with
the following conditions:

They must remain in residence at Breakers Civic Centre, and they are
only permitted to exit the facility from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm each day.
They have to notify the security officers when they exit and when they
return.

nicky@caymannetnews.com
http://www.caymannetnews.com/2006/03/1049/raft.shtml