MFA on Bahamian Prisoners in Cuba

October 27, 2003

               The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to respond to certain comments attributed to Bahamians incarcerated in Cuba under the headline ‘BAHAMIAN PRISONERS IN CUBA CLAIM BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT WITHHOLDING INFORMATION’, appearing in The Tribune of Thursday, 23^rd October, 2003.  

The said comments centred around criticisms of the Government of The Bahamas involving, inter alia, the alleged withholding of information pertaining to the Agreement between the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the Republic of Cuba concerning the Transfer of Sanctioned Persons.

                This Agreement governs the transfer of Bahamian nationals to The Bahamas to serve the remainder of their prison term.  Under the Agreement both countries must agree to the transfer and eligible individuals must also consent to the transfer.  Also, eligible individuals may only be transferred if a decision or order of a court or tribunal imposing a sentence, punishment or measure involving deprivation of liberty, for any period of time on account of a criminal offence, is final.  Indeed, persons who are transferred under the said Agreement have either opted not to appeal their sentence or have exhausted all appeals.

                Regarding the alleged withholding of information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has consistently, on the occasion of its Consular visits with Bahamian nationals incarcerated in Cuba, not only provided such information to them, discussing in detail relevant sections of said Agreement, but also has made copies of the same available to them, their legal representatives and family members upon request.

                The Ministry, therefore, views with some surprise and concern the criticism attributed to these inmates in this regard.

                On the matter of the Ministry’s non-attendance at individual court trials, while it is hoped that proper legal representation would have been retained by the said inmates, it should be noted that the Government of The Bahamas does not have a resident diplomatic representative in Cuba.  Indeed, even if such diplomatic representation existed, it is unlikely that a diplomatic representative could be present at each court appearance of each inmate.  However, it should be noted that, within existing resources, the Ministry makes consular visits and maintains contact with family members who have ready access to officials in the Ministry at all times.

                The Ministry also wishes to point out that the Cuban judicial system determines which persons are eligible to provide legal representation in Cuban courts in much the same way as obtains in the Bahamian judicial system.  In honouring its obligations set out in international law, The Bahamas, therefore, cannot interfere in the Cuban justice system.

                Notwithstanding the alleged criticisms contained in the subject newspaper report, the Government of The Bahamas wishes to assure the Bahamian people that it has been exhausting, and will continue to exhaust, all diplomatic channels and accepted norms of international practice to ensure that the human rights of its nationals incarcerated in Cuba, or elsewhere, are respected and safeguarded to the fullest extent.

                Finally, the Ministry wishes to express its deep concern that no attempt seems to have been made to contact the Ministry, or the official named in the said article, to verify the claims made in the letter prior to the publication of the article so as to ensure that a balanced report would have been provided to the Bahamian public.