The Tocqueville Connection, 6 April 2007.
LIBREVILLE, April 6, 2007 (AFP) - A Cuban doctor who refused to return
home after working in Gabon sought asylum in France on Friday when he
stopped there after being deported, one of his lawyers said.
Maulio Garcia Perez was finally flown out of Gabon on Thursday evening
towards Cuba, Gabonese foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Claude Mendome
told AFP, weeks after he was due to leave.
One of Perez's lawyers confirmed that a Cuban diplomat picked him up
from his home and took him to Libreville airport with the help of
Gabonese police.
"He was due to board a plane for Paris, from where he was to continue
towards Cuba, but I have just heard that he asked for asylum in France
this morning (Friday) when he arrived," Jules Obiang told AFP.
Perez arrived in Gabon in March 2005 with about 20 colleagues as part of
a cooperative agreement between Libreville and Havana.
He worked in the public hospital in Port-Gentil, in the southwest of
Gabon, and should have returned to Cuba on March 13.
Instead, he fled towards the border with Cameroon where he was arrested
by Gabonese immigration officers.
Obiang said the doctor did not oppose Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba but
feared reprisals if he returned there.
"He applied for asylum in Gabon on March 28. His deportation was due to
be suspended until his case was considered, but they went ahead with it.
I don't know where that decision came from," the lawyer added.
No comments:
Post a Comment