Bmda: Bermuda thwarts Cubans attempt to defect

A Cuban refugee crisis is brewing in Bermuda, according to the Opposition United Bermuda Party.

This week the UBP is claiming that a member of a Cuban youth jazz band defected to Canada as the group was making its way back to Havana last month.

Shadow Community Affairs Minister Louise Jackson cited “very reliable sources” when asked to substantiate her claims, but could not say exactly which of the young men had defected.
And she insists that Bermuda could find itself in a quandary should a Cuban decided to defect here.

Community Affairs Minister Dale Butler said he had no knowledge of any defection to Canada and that should any Cuban visiting Bermuda under the cultural exchange memorandum with the Caribbean country attempted to defect, the agreement would be suspended indefinitely.

“The very first one that attempts to defect here would suspend and possibly end the agreement,” he said.

Mr. Butler acknowledged, as he did during his written answers to Mrs. Jackson's original questions in Parliament, that international law would oblige Bermuda not to send someone back if there was proven to be a well founded fear of persecution.

But he poured cold water over the idea that a band member had defected in Canada saying that one of a number of rumours making the rounds about the visiting Cubans before they even arrived was that some of them would arrive pregnant, but they were all young men.
And the Minister revealed that the Cuban entourage had been provided with “first class security” to ensure they did not fall victims of a plot to discredit the Government.

“While they were here we had the best of security just in case people would actually tempt them to defect,” he said.

When asked who such “people” might be, Mr. Butler said: “Mrs. Jackson - all those people who were attempting to march on Parliament.

“We were afraid they might kidnap them or encourage them to defect to embarrass myself and the Government so we had first class security that didn't cost the country a penny. To ensure that they were not infiltrated by people with these ideas,” Mr. Butler said.
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Mrs. Jackson has been relentless in her criticism of Government's fostering links with Cuba - a campaign Mr. Butler dismissed yesterday as “a lot of ballyhoo.”

During Parliamentary Question Time on Friday, she posed a series of questions aimed at uncovering Government's position should it be faced with Cubans wishing to defect.

This week Mrs. Jackson accused Mr. Butler of “ducking” the questions - because they could only be answered in writing after question time expired - and reported that she had knowledge of a defector and had planned to grill Mr. Butler on the House of Assembly floor with follow up questions.
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He added that his Ministry had written to the Cubans and specifically asked if the entire team had returned home.

“We asked if all members returned and they wrote back and said everything went well.”

Asked why she did not bring the matter up during the motion to adjourn, Mrs. Jackson said she was hoping for media exposure. “I think the public needs to know about this - nobody listens to the motion to adjourn.”

She said “thousands” of people had defected from Cuba and Bermuda was now vulnerable to a Cuban defector crisis because of the cultural exchange programme.

“If they can get out of it (Cuba) they would. And I don't know why the Minister seems to feel that they won't try to defect in Bermuda. My biggest thing is if one of these children defect here and they are sent back to Cuba, it's a well-known fact that not only will they be punished badly but their families too - everybody suffers. And I just need some answers on this. I'm pretty tired of them ducking on this.”

“Should anyone in the future attempt to defect here we would suspend the agreement and that person would be sent back home,” Mr. Butler said yesterday.

“First of all I wouldn't be consorting with a dictator,” said Mrs. Jackson when asked what her solution would be. “I mean the whole world has condemned Castro's dictatorship. The United Nations has condemned them but here we are cosying up to them You feel so sorry for the people but certainly we are not helping them if they defect here and are sent back.”

She noted that controversy had erupted in Grand Cayman last month when a group of Cubans attempted to defect there and the authorities came in for criticism from Grand Cayman residents for what they said was inhumane treatment of the refugees.

“So you've got to have a plan of what are you going to do if those people do decide to defect. What's our plan going to be?”

She said she disagreed with the cultural links and would “absolutely” tear it up if given the opportunity. “There are other ways to help people to freedom and cosying up to the Castro Government is definitely not the way to do it.”

From observing the Caribbean response to the Iraq situation, I have slowly come to realize that either Caribbean nations don't understand the concept of freedom, or do not support it, or do not care for the freedom of others apart from their own. Minister Butler is one such who reinforces these notions.

Thank God for people like Minister Jackson who demonstrates that she understands the importance of freedom and is willing to stand up and fight for its cause. Would that other Caribbean politicians were as clearsighted as she with regard to Cuba and its communist dictatorship.