The case of the missing accord

Tony Baldry, former Under
Secretary of State at
the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office.

Friday, May 27,  2005

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has denied the existence of an agreement that was referred to in British parliamentary debate ten years ago, which has had an influence on this country’s current policy of returning Cuban migrants when they land in the Cayman Islands and ask for assistance.

A request was made by Cayman Net News under the UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for a copy of an accord between the governments of Cuba and the Cayman Islands, signed on or before May 1995, concerning the repatriation of Cuban migrants that arrive in the Cayman Islands, and also the British Government’s authorization to the Governor of the Cayman Islands for the repatriation process of Cubans.

A reply from the FCO’s Information Management Group stated that there was no agreement between the Governments of Cuba and the Cayman Islands signed on or before May 1995, but noted the 1999 MOU has now been made public via the Cayman Islands Government Information Service (GIS).

In 1994 and early 1995, a large number of Cubans, eventually numbering 1,200, reached Cayman shores, and an exchange of written answers to questions for the Lord Chancellor’s Department on 5 May, 1995, is recorded in the UK Hansard.

The exchange shows a question put by George Foulkes, Labour MP at the time for Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley, to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, asking what plans he had to deal with the Cuban refugees then remaining on the Cayman Islands; what discussions he’d had with the Governments of the United States and Cuba to try to prevent further exodus of Cubans to the Cayman Islands; and if he would make a statement.

A reply was given by Tony Baldry who was at the time Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He stated: “I refer the Hon. Member to the statement issued on 2 May by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The decision to repatriate any future Cuban migrants who fail the refugee screening process in the Cayman Islands was taken with the full agreement of the Cuban Government. The United States Government has now announced a similar policy.”

The accord is also noted in an academic paper written by Douglas Payne, who is listed as a Senior Associate for the Americas Program within the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a highly respected US Government think-tank.

In a paper entitled “Cuba: Systematic Repression of Dissent”, Mr Payne wrote, “In early May 1995 the British Government announced that it had authorized the governor of the Cayman Islands to repatriate to Cuba ‘Cuban migrants who arrive in the Cayman Islands subject to the usual internationally accepted screening and appeals procedure.’

The announcement followed an agreement between Cuba and the Cayman Islands for the repatriation of Cubans who arrived illegally in the Cayman Islands. Cuba assured the Cayman Islands that no harm would come to migrants on their return, but there was no provision in the Cayman-Cuba accord for monitoring their well-being.”

James Ryan, who retired as Chief Secretary last year, referred to this missing agreement a year before the MOU was signed. In June 1998, when 30 Cuban migrants were repatriated, he said in a GIS press release, that the decision to repatriate the group was “in keeping with the agreement reached between the Governments of Cuba and the Cayman Islands following the massive arrivals of illegal Cuban migrants in 1995.’’

Net News has requested the Governor’s Officer to specify which document Mr Ryan was referring to in this statement. This request has been forwarded to the Chief Secretary’s Office, but a reply had not been issued by press time.

The Cayman Islands has not passed its own FOIA and the UK FOIA does not apply to the governments of the British Overseas Territories (BOT). However, documents are covered by the UK FOIA if a copy is held by the UK Government, for example, the FCO, a British Embassy, or, in the case of the Cayman Islands, the Governor’s Office. Any agreement between a BOT and a foreign country should be held by a representative of the UK Government, since the UK has total responsibility for the external affairs of its Overseas Territories.

Net News has now requested an internal review following the FCO’s denial of the existence of the Cuban accord, as allowed under the UK FOIA, in the hopes of determining where the misinformation originated.

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