Cubans Escape Again

4th April
Cubans Escape Again
By Candia Dames

Several weeks after the release of two detained dentists drew
international headlines, authorities were on Monday on the hunt for
three Cuban men who broke out of the Carmichael Road Detention Centre in
the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Assistant Director of Immigration Weston Saunders, shown in this Journal
file photo, said yesterday that he could not speak specifically to the
Cuban escape incident which occurred on Sunday, but he did speak about
the challenges of governing the facility.
It led to police launching an investigation to determine how the Cubans
were able to cut their way through three fences and escape the facility,
which is used to house illegal immigrants.

The men were identified as Jose Alvarez Garcia, 38; Victor Brito Senea,
35; and Lazaro Acosta Ortiz, 33. The Cubans had reportedly been detained
for several months.

Officials made no public announcements regarding the incident and were
quiet on the details, although the Journal was able to get the names of
the escaped men from a contact.

It was also revealed that just two weeks ago, a Haitian detainee was
able to "walk out" of the Detention Centre "in broad daylight". His name
was not revealed.

The three Cubans reportedly escaped after 4am Sunday by cutting their
way through three fences at the facility and making a clean break under
the shadow of Defence Force officers who were on guard.

The Defence Force is responsible for security at the facility and nine
officers work per shift, the Journal learnt.

The latest break has again refocused attention on security at the
facility. But on Monday, the detainees who remained appeared relaxed as
they sat on the outdoors, some of them using the two paid phones
stationed outside the dormitories for the illegal immigrants to use at
their leisure.

The Bahama Journal learnt that police are investigating to determine
whether reports that the detainees may have bought their way out of the
facility are true.

Officials at the centre would not comment on the incident and no
immigration or police authority released any formal information to the
press. During a break in 2004, authorities had released names and
photographs of escaped detainees for New Providence residents to be on
the lookout for the Cubans.

More than 24 hours after this latest incident, residents in the
community surrounding the Detention Centre knew nothing of the break and
had not been advised to be on the lookout.

On Sunday, immigration and law enforcement officials were reportedly at
the Detention Centre as the investigations into the matter got underway.
It was reported that the first hole in the fence was cut about 20 feet
from the lookout post where a Defence Force officer is supposed to be
stationed.

According to reports from officials that reached the Bahama Journal, the
officer on the lookout reportedly heard a noise and wrestled with one of
the Cubans who was still able to escape from the facility even though
the officer was supposedly armed with a weapon and a radio.

On Monday morning, Defence Force Commodore Davy Rolle was at the
facility and reportedly held a meeting with officers there.

During an incident at the Detention Centre back in December 2004 when a
group of Cuban immigrants reportedly set fire to one of the dorms,
authorities had vowed tighter security at the facility.

As a result of that incident, officials said 11 Defence Force officers
sustained injuries, mainly bruises and lacerations.

The Journal was able to confirm on Monday that while some of the Cubans
allegedly involved in the 2004 incident had been repatriated, a group of
them was recently returned to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre from
Her Majesty’s Prison, meaning they have been in detention in The Bahamas
now for well over a year.

On Monday, there were 242 illegal immigrants being detained at the
facility. They included 72 Cubans, including three children; and 134
Haitians, including three children.

While declining to give any information on the latest break from the
Detention Centre, Assistant Director of Immigration Weston Saunders in
an interview with The Bahama Journal pointed to the challenges of
operating the facility.

"Overall it’s an expensive venture and it’s one that we need all of the
agencies [involved in]," he said of the facility.

"Security is a serious issue at this centre and we just recently had to
beef up our security to make everybody understand the importance of
being vigilant and keeping a keen eye on what’s going on."

A year ago, government officials appointed former Acting Superintendent
of Her Majesty’s Prison Edwin Culmer director of the Detention Centre,
but Mr. Culmer recently told The Bahama Journal that he does no work at
the facility and has no idea about the goings on there.

An insider at the Detention Centre said on Monday that another challenge
faced by personnel at the facility is that Defence Force officers report
to the commodore and immigration personnel report to the director of
immigration and oftentimes the two groups are failing to operate on one
accord.

Immigration Minister Shane Gibson could not be reached for a report into
the latest break from the Detention Centre and released no statement on
the matter.

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