Cuban migrants drank sea water
(CNS): Thirty-nine uniformed officers, including 21 prison officers and staff from the Cayman Islands police, customs and immigration, arrived from Grand Cayman Friday afternoon to transport 37 Cuban migrants, who landed at Cayman Brac Thursday evening, to Grand Cayman as a first step to repatriation.
Cuban migrants on Cayman Brac, Friday 13 March 2015 (Photo by James Tibbetts)
A conversation on Facebook has been roundly critical of the decision to take them into custody, with most of the participants believing that the latest group, which took seven days to get to the Brac from Cuba and had been drinking sea water for the last few days, could have continued their journey if they had just been given some water and a battery to get their engine going.
However, CNS has learned that the group did manage to get hold of a battery while they were on the Brac but they still couldn’t start their engine. Officials determined that the vessel that the group arrived in was unseaworthy and could not continue.
A 14-year-old child and seven women were among the group or 37 Cubans, CNS was told by people who spoke to them. They had come from Manzanillo in the south-east of Cuba and were heading to Honduras, and then up to the US.
But their engine stopped just a few hours into their journey and they sailed the rest of the way. When their water supply ran out, the Cubans drank salt water for the last two days. CNS was told that they looked very skinny and some of them were vomiting when they reached the Brac Thursday.
More Cubans could be on their way. The migrants told people on the Brac that there is a belief in Cuba that the US will soon end the wet-foot, dry-foot policy, which allows Cuban migrants to remain in America if they set foot on US soil, and they want to get there before this happens.
Cuban migrants on Cayman Brac being transported to the Aston rutty Civic Centre, Friday 13 March 2015 (Photo by James Tibbetts)
Four Cubans, three men and one woman, in this latest group decided Thursday after they arrived on the Brac, that they’d had enough and did not want to continue but the rest of the group, including the teenage girl, initially intended to continue on.
However, according to Deputy Premier Moses Kirkconnell, who was on the Brac and saw the conditions of the migrants and the boat himself, the vessel was not seaworthy. “They needed to get off and be repatriated,” he said, adding that they were happy with the outcome.
The Cubans were taken first to the Aston Rutty Civic Centre where, Kirkconnell said, they were given clothes, food, water and the chance to clean up before they were flown to Grand Cayman Friday evening.
Category: Local News
Driftwood 16/3/ 4:58pm – you’re defending reference to the UK in favour of criticizing Cayman. Clearly you are ignorant to the fact that the Cayman Islands cannot sign any international treaty or arrangement on its own – we can merely ratify arrangements committed by the UK. Such is the case with this Cayman/Cuba arrangement. So whatever inhumane processes these poor refugees are subjected to are the design of the UK. Sad but true, so just accept it.
What CIG should do is to make the public aware of the full terms and conditions of these arrangements instead of just referring to certain parts when necessary.
What about human right, should you treat people this way, can someone please challenge this dump law, someone shouldn’t be denied water etc!
Once the decision was made to put them on a plane, why not fly them straight back to Cuba? Seems pointless to fly them to Grand Cayman to hold and feed them for a few weeks before putting them on another plane
Is it legal to transport people in the back of pick-up trucks?
No, is not legal, but is the government right? besides, they are only Cubans, no big deal, they wont give them water, why should they provide a safe ride anyways…… unbelievable
Since when did something being illegal matter here? You just know its not going to get enforced..
Is that the same government truck that was sitting there with the engine running all afternoon while the driver was corralling refugees?
So is the number business
The same new government that the back is already mashed out. The same truck that sat at panama canal boat ramp for 5 hours with the engine also running. The same truck that is used for private business
They could have at least provided them with slippers. Many got on the planer barefoot. Besides the fact, that the coldness isn’t good especially after that journey, I would think it would be considered unsanitary.
When will CIG reveal the terms and conditions of its UK-made arrangements for not assisting refugees with basic humanitarian needs??!! Perhaps if Brac officials had not made the determination that the refugees’ vessel was not seaworthy, this may have ended in tragedy. Previously, CI Officials “decided” not to provide water and fuel to another group of refugees in order to assist in their onward journey.
It is not good enough for life and death decisions to be made arbitrarily, depending on which official is in charge at the time of any given refugee arrival. The policy of not helping refugees seems to be either multi-standard, confusing or CI border control officials are all not fully versed on the requirements. This is unacceptable!!
Shame on CIG and UKG!!!
Strange as when immigrants arrive in the UK they get given “EVERYTHING”, and as long as they don’t havew a passport they can stay!!.
It seems to be totally arbitrary.
How some people just twist stories to have a pop at the UK…UK not mentioned but Cayman’s obligations under UNHCR are mentioned…but then you are right, Cayman never enforces anything so just go ahead and blame everyone else..
Bush made a deal with the Cuban government: In order for Cayman Airways to get landing rights in Cuba, Cayman needed to deport the Cubans that arrive here.
It is all about money, that is how the world works, especially here.