A man claiming to be a former Cuban detainee at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre alleged that he was beaten so badly that two of his ribs were broken and he had to be hospitalized.
The man, identified as Alexander Vazquez, appeared as a telephone guest on the Miami Spanish language radio talk show ‘Desafio con Ramon Saul Sanchez’ on La Poderosa 670 AM on August 19.
The show was hosted by Ramon Sanchez, a spokesman for the protest group Democracy Movement.
The entire show, which is in Spanish, is available on iTunes and was translated for The Nassau Guardian.
Vazquez claimed that he was calling in to the show from Cuba.
He told Sanchez that he was deported, along with 23 other Cubans, on August 16.
Vazquez claimed that during his first night at the detention center the guards woke everyone up around 3 a.m., took them outside and beat them.
He said after the beating, the guards refused to take him or anyone else who needed medical attention to hospital. However, he said immigration officers eventually took them to hospital.
He claimed that doctors had to operate on him.
Vazquez claimed that after his operation he was taken to Her Majesty’s Prisons until he was deported.
The government has ordered an investigation into claims of abuse at the Detention Centre.
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell has said that it is not the policy of The Bahamas to abuse migrants.
During the show, Sanchez asked the alleged victim if he was involved in a video that purported to show Cuban detainees being beaten by Bahamian officers.
Vazquez said he never saw the video nor was he a part of it, but noted that people in Cuba have seen it.
He made various other claims such as; women at the facility were taken into a certain room and sexually abused by the guards; that Haitian detainees were also severly beaten and that medical officials were forced to remain quiet on the alleged abuse.
Again, the claims have not been proven but it is believed they were heard by a wide audience in Florida. Vazquez also admitted that he did not speak English and relied on a fellow detainee to translate for him.
Sanchez said he plans to make more testimonials available to the media tomorrow during a press conference in Miami.
He called The Bahamas’ investigation into reports of abuse at the Detention Centre a farce.
“We continue to demand that the victims and the witnesses be produced before the press, including those sent to Cuba to hide them from the investigators and the public inquiries,” he said.
“How can a thorough investigation be conducted if the investigators cannot interview the victims and the witnesses?
“The investigation is a farce and the respectable people named to lead the independent investigation, such as the retired [Court of Appeal] judge and the cleric, should raise their voices in the face of the evident fact that they will not be able to talk to the tortured victims or the witnesses.”
Mitchell has announced that a retired judge and a cleric will be conducting a probe into the claims.
Travis Cartwright-Carroll
The Nassau Guardian