Last Friday, the residents of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye were treated to some excitement that’s starting to lose its shock value. Cuban runaways, for some reason, are showing up in raggedy crafts on the beaches of that island on what is fast becoming a regular basis. Three deposits in two months.
Sources tell Amandala that this last group consisted of eight men and three women who came ashore around 10:15 a.m. in the vicinity of Holiday Hotel in the center of San Pedro. The group is said to come from Camagüey, Cuba. They were at sea for 17-18 days, with the last 4-5 days without water or food. San Pedranos treated them with love by giving them food, water, warm clothes, and help with repairs to what you could, if you wished, call a boat. The incident was not reported by police, or immigration authorities, and we don’t know why.
An eyewitness told Amandala that the craft was outfitted with a very old Russian-made engine, and a generator. Some repairs were done on the engine before they were allowed to shove off on their way out to sea.
Contradicting the eyewitness report was Assistant Superintendent of Police Dennis Arnold, officer in charge of San Pedro, who told Amandala that “we turned them over to Immigration a long time ago, from last Friday …yes eleven of them …check with Immigration.”
When we checked with “Immigration,” there was no one available who would comment on the incident.
We understand the arrival of Cubans here by sea may present some diplomatic challenges, given that the previous administration is said to have signed an agreement with the government of Cuba that deals specifically with instances like these. The train of thought is that the new government of Belize may be obligated to repatriate any such Cuban arrivals and we, the people of Belize, including those of us in media, need to turn a blind eye to their uninvited visits, so as not to “stress” the government.
In issue# 2219 (March 5, 2008), Amandala ran a front page story of the first of three beaching in San Pedro since general elections. Since then there has been no official cooperation at any level in getting the facts concerning the last two arrivals.