‘Unsafe’ Cuban boat allowed to continue on

| 31/12/2021 | 23 Comments
Cayman News Service
CBC Director Charles Clifford

(CNS): A boat with seven Cuban migrants on board that was declared “unsafe” by the Cayman Islands Coast Guard (CICG) has been allowed to continue its journey, according to Customs and Border Control (CBC). The vessel reached Cayman Brac on Tuesday, but the migrants did not come ashore on that island and travelled on. The boat was located Wednesday evening offshore in East End, Grand Cayman, by the CICG, which declared it to be unsafe. However, on Friday morning the CBC said that the seven migrants, who are all adult men, “insisted on continuing their journey when asked by Cayman authorities”. 

Although a press release issued Wednesday evening by the CBC indicated that the migrants were being processed according to COVID-19 protocols and would then be placed in mandatory quarantine, the Friday update stated that they had all remained on the boat.

The CBC said that they were escorted outside territorial waters by the coastguard around 5pm Thursday, around 24 hours after they reached East End. A CBC spokesperson told CNS, “They did not want to land and be processed and insisted on continuing on, so after some hours they did. No supplies were provided.”

However, it remains unclear if any repairs were made to the vessel or what state it was in when it left Grand Cayman on the long and hazardous journey. Most Cuban migrants avoid the US Coast Guard, which will take them back to Cuba, by heading to Honduras. They then travel north by land, hoping to enter the US along with illegal immigrants from South and Central America.

The preferential treatment given to Cubans who reached the US, the so called “wet foot, dry foot” policy, where any migrant from that country who set foot in the United States was allowed to stay as permanent residents, ended in 2017. Cubans who cross the border without a visa are now treated the same as any other illegal immigrant by US authorities.

According to the Cayman Islands Coast Guard Act, 2021, the powers and duties of the CICG include the duty to “inspect vessels to ensure and enforce compliance with local and international safety laws, regulations, rules and standards”.


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Category: Local News

Comments (23)

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  1. Judean people's front says:

    2 questions spring to mind …

    1. What would Jesus do?

    2. What would Caymankind Jesus do?

  2. Bert says:

    A policy that kills far more than the total deaths from Covid among the fully vaccinated.

  3. Anonymous says:

    According to the Cayman Islands Coast Guard Act, 2021, the powers and duties of the CICG include the duty to “inspect vessels to ensure and enforce compliance with local and international safety laws, regulations, rules and standards”.
    I am sure this only applies wishing to operate in Cayman waters. The boat people did not wish to operate or remain in Cayman waters.

  4. Anonymous says:

    3.12pm Do you honestly believe that the boat people didn’t receive any help? I don’t.There’s a saying that when it is translated goes something like “not everything that’s good to eat is good to talk”. Meaning “You dont have to talk everything you know”. Probably applies here.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Haters, please understand, if you can. Under certain Conventions, there are criteria for assisting migrants, or not.

    It is not barbaric heartlessness of the officials but what they must do. They cannot render assistance under certain conditions.

    What is truly sickening, though, is that the same authorities won’t explain these criteria to the public – for haters especially – so as to understand their actions.

    • Ase says:

      Yeah, yeah, if these obligations exist why didn’t you link them bro?

    • Anonymous says:

      This is the beauty of internet armchair admirals and remaining in a tiny bubble of ignorance.

      There is an mou with the cuban government and the BOT /UK that makes certain assistance mandatory.

      There are also obligations for any vessel, and by extension, support from land, to assist cuban migrants under the SOLAS international agreement.
      Cayman … the land where urban myth substitutes any law in place.

  6. Anonymous says:

    a classic civil service tale full of contradictions, inconsistencies and incompetence.
    and another story to make a mockery of the ‘caymankind’ mantra.

  7. Anonymous says:

    “No supplies were provided.””

    Disgusting pigs. seriously.

  8. Elvis says:

    Not much is safe outa cuba, im sure they will make it. Good luck to them all

  9. Anonymous says:

    Look at this joker all smiles while they provide shite service.

  10. Anonymous says:

    No supplies were provided. Like that is something to be proud about.

    • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

      Agree. I know we have agreements with Cuba, however to deny any human water, food or fuel is a crime against humanity. I don’t give a damn who you are or where you came from or where you live. 250 miles away. We could be kin, but no, we can’t spare a few crumbs from our table. Disgusting.

      Merry Christmas.

      • Anonymous says:

        5:39. Cayman tried that already and ended up with 1400 Cubans in a tent city all wanting food and supplies.

        The sound policy is to discourage illegal Immigration and give asylum to genuine refugees.

        Let’s see how you would react if Jamaican assisted 1500 Haitians to travel to Cayman.

        Always good to have the facts.

        • Anonymous says:

          Exactly, look at the uk and the channel migrant crisis, the policy should be to discourage them from coming as much as possible by offering them nothin. The uk should do similar if they were allowed to with migrants from France.

        • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

          You might not have been all the way down, brother, but I have.

          I hope life never deals you those hard cards.

          I would give anyone those three things anywhere, any time. Policy be damned.

        • Anonymous says:

          @6:14
          “The sound policy is to discourage illegal Immigration and give asylum to genuine refugees.”
          WTF is meant by “genuine refugees”?
          Cuba is a repressive, totalitarian, communist regime. Anyone leaving Cuba seeking freedom is a genuine refugee and should be given asylum or at the very least be assisted in their onward journey.
          Your lame and pathetic argument does not hold water. If we do not want to land them and consider them for a grant of asylum, the solution is simple: Cayman can simply give them a choice, we lend them assistance, food water, fuel, medical attention, a chart and a compass if needed, and they can be on their way to another destination, or, they will be put on a plane and sent back from whence they came.

          • Anonymous says:

            This is what we do. It is a sound policy. On Cayman Brac I personally saw a high level CS buying food, water, and baby supplies before sending them on their way. Caymankind.

          • Anonymous says:

            Except that to provide them supplies counts as landing them so if they reach Mexico or USA (and apply for asylum) they get returned to Cayman as the first port they pulled into. They either land, and get processed for asylum here, or they do not land and apply for asylum (or stay illegally) where they do land.

    • Anonymous says:

      3.12pm Do you honestly believe that the boat people didn’t receive any help? I don’t.There’s a saying that when it is translated goes something like “not everything that’s good to eat is good to talk”. Meaning “You dont have to talk everything you know”. Probably applies here.

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