By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday said any allegations of abuse of detainees, including an alleged incident on June 16 resulting in three Cubans reportedly being hospitalised, are under investigation.

When asked during yesterday’s press conference if the reports were true, Mr Mitchell said: “What I do know is this, there are allegations that have been made, those allegations are being investigated about a number of matters and beyond that I can make no comment.”

The Tribune understands that on or around June 16, about seven Cubans escaped from the Detention Centre.

During the incident, officers of the centre were assaulted or otherwise felt that they were in danger and retaliated against escapees, according to Defence Force sources.

Three male detainees, who were recaptured, had to be sent to hospital, one of them remaining there for several days because of severe injuries, it was claimed at the time.

Top Defence Force officials last week confirmed that “an incident” occurred in June and an investigation is in progress, but declined to give further details. The suggestion that detainees were harmed was neither confirmed nor denied.

During the month that the incident was alleged to have occurred, a video aired by America Teve, purported to show Cuban nationals being abused by a Bahamian guard.

The video was dismissed as a fake by Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell on Monday because, among other things, the accent of alleged abusers were not Bahamian, the rooms shown did not match the Detention Centre; and no faces were shown.

The minister also stated previously that “it remains to be said the Bahamas government does not beat those in its custody.”

“All detainees are treated with respect and in accordance with all applicable conventions and with human dignity and courtesy. The laws of The Bahamas are, however, enforced and those who come to The Bahamas unlawfully will be repatriated back to their home countries once all legal avenues of redress on their part have been addressed.”

However, Florida Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen was quoted in the media as saying that “the Bahamian government has finally acknowledged that the beatings that were caught on video occurred and we hope that the new security cameras, as well as the removal of these abusive guards, will have some positive impact on the lives of these freedom seeking Cubans.”

At yesterday’s press conference, in response to this statement, Mr Mitchell noted that “no one from the Bahamas government has admitted that there was any abuse of detainees by the Bahamas government.”

“The government has not admitted to the authenticity of the video which the protestors themselves have admitted is a fake. This is contrary to an assertion made by a legislature in the United States,” he added.

The minister said that a legislature does not speak for the US government, and that in the event that the US ambassador to the Bahamas cannot speak, “the Secretary of State speaks for the US government on foreign policy and that is the agency in which we get formal communications from and to which I will respond if I get any comments from them.”

Mr Mitchell stressed that there is a distinction “between the possible or alleged individual behaviour of agents of the state, and the state itself.”

“Each individual bears responsibility for their own behaviour. All we had said is, that the allegations made are under investigation and the chips will fall where they may when the investigation concludes.”