A day before the government decided to release two Cuban dentists who had been detained at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, United States Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood expressed concerns that it was taking so long for them to be released.
“I’ve visited them many, many times when I come back from the states,” Mr. Rood said in an interview with The Bahama Journal on Monday.
“I bring them some food, some new clothes, that type of thing, and I see firsthand what they’re going through and it’s very hard on me -in that perhaps I’ve not done enough-to get them out sooner.”
Mr. Rood said that when he last spoke with one of the doctors, Marialys Darias-Mesa, he asked her if she needed anything, but she told him ‘no’, she was fine. The ambassador said that he then asked her what she did all day, and she replied that she cries.
He said the detention centre is “not designed to hold people there for 10, 11 months.”
The two dentists were picked up along with 16 others in Bahamian waters in April 2005, but under the migration accord between Cuba and The Bahamas, the doctors were to be turned over to Cuba. However, the doctors’ case had been pending ever since.
On Tuesday, the US Embassy announced that the doctors had been escorted by Bahamian immigration officials to Jamaica and they boarded a plane for Fort Lauderdale, Florida where they were expected to be united with their families.
In a recent statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had pointed out that citizens of Cuba are subject to the migration accord between The Bahamas and Cuba, which is an agreement between two sovereign nations.
That statement indicated that the Cuban government had been contacted with regard to its citizens. But the Ministry pointed out that that migration accord is, of course, subject to international law.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet Office said in a statement that the Department of Immigration of The Bahamas and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had earlier both advised that neither individual could establish a credible claim of a well grounded fear of persecution in their home country, Cuba.
This meant, according to the statement, that they did not qualify to be political refugees in The Bahamas. However, UNHCR reportedly advised that it would not object to a humanitarian gesture of paroling the individuals out to allow them to join their families in circumstances where such a request was made by the two individuals.
When he spoke with The Bahama Journal on Monday, Mr. Rood had said he had faith that The Bahamas government would soon announce a decision in that regard.
“I’m very comfortable that we are going to end up with a solution that we’re pleased with and that is what the prime minister committed to myself and the [Florida] governor when Jeb Bush was here, and I’m sure he’s [Mr. Christie] going to find a way to live up to that commitment,” Mr. Rood said.
During a recent visit to The Bahamas, Governor Bush highlighted the issue during talks with Prime Minister Christie, noting that it was a concern of his constituents.
Cuban-Americans in Florida had been lobbying for the Bahamian government to make a decision on the two Cuban doctors they claim are the holders of valid U.S. visas.
Florida Congressman Connie Mack, along with fellow U.S Republican representative, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, had threatened to push for economic sanctions against The Bahamas if authorities here did not free the doctors.
Mr. Rood, attempting to explain the two Congress members’ actions, said they were getting desperate and sometimes they resort to desperate means.
“Anytime my job is limited by what happens in Congress, it is somewhat of a concern to me because I don’t know if they understand the full ramifications of some of the things they are talking about, whether it’s the cruise industry or pre-clearance or other funding,” he said.
“Their tool is what they have. They can’t tell us what to do; they can just control our funding. So they’re desperate.”
Mr. Rood said he had spoken with Congressman Mack in December about this issue and Mr. Mack was “trying to come to a conclusion since then.”
He said the Congress members were not acting out of lack of respect, but are looking for ways to free two people they believed were being wrongfully held.
“It’s hard for someone in the United States to understand it,” the U.S. ambassador said on Monday.
“One of the things I have tried to do as an ambassador is try to understand other people’s perspective on an issue, and I’ve really tried to understand The Bahamas’ issue and I realize that they are in a difficult situation.
“I probably realize that being here and having one-on-one conversations with government officials, I probably understand it better than they do in Congress. So it is a bit troubling but I also have to respect their role – what their role and their rights are, and whatever comes out of it, is something we’ll live with and do our best to minimize the impact on our relationship.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement that it welcomed the decision of the Bahamian government to release the two dentists so they may rejoin their families in the United States.
By: Courtnee Romer, The Bahama Journal
