Written by production
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 14:55
There may be many people unaware of the plight of Cody LeCompte. He is a
19 year old Ontario resident and citizen of Canada who is basically
being held hostage in Cuba. He has been there for over a dozen weeks
without being charged with a crime, yet. His mistake was to be driving a
rental car that was broadsided by a dump truck. The accident was not his
fault and the only injuries were to those in his vehicle.
The Cuban government has been stringing his mother along saying he could
go home at such and such a time but he is still in Cuba, forced to
remain at his resort at tremendous expense to his mother. To date, it
has cost over $25,000 to keep him in Cuba and he has not received
additional medical treatment required for his injuries since leaving the
hospital.
His mother has been required to retain a Cuban lawyer who has advised
them he could get a maximum sentence of one to three years in a Cuban
prison. There seems to be no presumption of LeCompte's innocence.
Apparently, the Cuban government has already determined him to be guilty
and yet he has not even been charged after what has now become months of
detainment.
The Canadian consulate in Cuba has done nothing to help this unfortunate
young man who is in need of medical care as a result of his injuries.
Neither the government nor the opposition parties have helped this family.
In fact, it took three weeks for the Foreign Affairs office to return a
call from LeCompte's mother. If neither the Canadian Foreign Affairs
office nor the Canadian consulate in Cuba can help a Canadian family in
crisis, what exactly is their role when it comes to Canadians travel abroad.
It is shameful how loud some people in this country are demanding that
Omar Khadr be brought home when he is a prisoner of a Canadian ally and
democratic country. The United States has charged him with a crime and
provided legal counsel.
There was help for Brenda Martin who was convicted of a crime in Mexico.
She was brought home to Canada.
Why are these same people not hounding the government for LeCompte's
sake? It is time to demand some action from local MPs, cabinet
ministers, the Prime Minister and Canadian authorities in Cuba to bring
LeCompte home.
It is also time Canadians thought long and hard about where the spend
their vacation time and money. Cuba has become a popular vacation spot
for Canadians but maybe a loss of tourist income would send a strong
message to the country that it cannot continue to allow a corrupt legal
system to prey on innocent visitors to their country.
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