EDITORIAL

Cuban Refugees Empathy

Monday, May 10, 2004

Once again, the issue of the treatment and eventual fate of Cuban refugees arriving on our shores has reared its head.

As usual, part of the problem lies in the perpetual lack of transparency on the part of the Cayman Islands Government.

In this instance, we have been told for several years that the Government signed a bilateral agreement or memorandum of understanding with Cuba, which purportedly requires us to repatriate all Cuban refugees arriving in the Cayman Islands.

The first problem with this is that, despite numerous requests over the years, the Government has so far failed to provide the media or the public at large with a copy of the agreement in question.

Assuming, however, that there is such an agreement, what was the Cayman Islands Government doing contracting directly with another sovereign power in the first place? Only Britain, as the colonial power, has that authority, or the ability to consent to such an arrangement.

Furthermore, an agreement in such terms flies in the face of various international treaties and conventions governing the treatment of refugees. How, therefore, could either Britain or the Cayman Islands countenance an agreement contravening those treaties?

This prima facie inconsistency, coupled with the Government’s persistent refusal to make the agreement public, naturally leads to the suspicion that something is not quite as it should be.

The next inconsistency in this situation concerns the assertion by Immigration officers that the rules are different in Cayman Brac, our Middle Sister Island, to those governing Grand Cayman, which again makes no sense at all. Whatever the policies and practice may be, they need to be clearly established and applied uniformly throughout the country.

According to one of the contributors to our online forum, current government policy in relation to the treatment of refugees is being dictated by the Government Information Service (GIS). If true, this would be quite astonishing, and would be tantamount to a public relations firm trying to run the business of one of their clients on the basis of what the public want to see and hear.

We also need an answer as to the reason for the discriminatory treatment of Cuban refugees compared to those from other countries. Cayman has had a long-standing relationship with Cuba and several prominent and contributing members of the community were born or have family ties there.

Granted, some twenty to twenty-five years ago there was some considerable concern over the possible influence of Cuba’s political ideology in the region, as manifested most notably in Grenada and Jamaica, at the time.

Since then, however, Cuba is seen as a potential economic threat rather than a political one and efforts are being made by regional governments and entrepreneurs to invest in and thereby participate in Cuba’s economic awakening.

Even the Cayman Islands Government has been talking about a business relationship with the Cuban State tourism firm, Cubanacan.

But economic or political hopes and fears should never be allowed to overshadow human rights. Every individual member of government and the immigration services should be aware that the various international conventions provide for the punishment of individuals and not just governments guilty of human rights abuses.

Such individuals may be extradited to human rights-friendly countries to stand trial, as established in the Pinochet case, even though that later failed as a result of procedural issues. Furthermore it is also well-established as matter of principle that it is no defence to use the chain of command excuse – that one was only following orders.

Again, a little more sunshine, information-wise, in the Cayman Islands, would be a tremendous help.

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