Cuban claims to have been 'almost killed' in detention centre beating

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

A CUBAN man claiming to have been in custody at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre says he was one of a group of detainees beaten so severely “that they almost killed us”.

Alexander Vazquez, 27, phoned into the radio show Desafio on 670AM - a Miami station, where he recalled a “brutal” assault which he claimed resulted in two broken ribs – one of which punctured his lung.

That incident, he told the show’s host and Miami-based activist Ramon Sanchez on August 19, landed him in hospital for six days, after an operation.

Vazquez has since been repatriated to Cuba where he lives at H Street, Colon and Maceo, number 9, Reparto Villa Josefa.

“A day and a half after getting to the Bahamas, we were sleeping at around 3am, and the guards went crazy. They told everyone to wake up and separate, and go outside,” Vazquez said.

“Myself, and two others were held in the room. They tied us up took us outside and beat us so bad, they almost killed us.”

“While the beating was taking place, a senior officer was firing shots in the air.

“It was very, very brutal, I tell you that from the heart. I believe one of us would have died that night. What saved us was that the sun was starting to come up by then, if not...”

According to the Democracy Movement, Vazquez was sent back to Cuba on Friday, August 16, with the first group of Cubans.

Vazquez went on to explain to Sanchez that he believed the officers at the Detention Centre did not want to take them to hospital for fear of the incident going public.

“It seems that it was the immigration officers who took us to the hospital and when we got there. In my case, I had two broken ribs and one of them had punctured my lung.

“We were first taken to a clinic, and they didn’t want us to go to the hospital, but the doctors they insisted. I had to have an operation and spent five or six days in the hospital.

“It seemed that they wanted to get me out of there, I guess because of the press was going to come there or something like that.”

Sanchez said that while the beating was taking place, other officers came over. But when they realised what was going on, they left. When these officers first approached, one of the other Cubans said to the victims: “Look they are coming over here, they are going to stop them beating you.”

Those officers instead got into their cars and left. The guards continued their abuse, Vazquez said.

Speaking about the conditions at the Detention Centre, he said that children housed at the facility were forced to live in a climate of fear all the time. This was the case because they believed that at any moment a guard might fire shots in the air, and were always brandishing rifles and batons, he said.

Asked to comment on claims of female detainee sexual abuse, Vazquez said he saw no firsthand evidence of this, but that such incidents were common knowledge among those housed there.

He said he was informed that male officers went into the female quarters at night and raped the women. Vazquez said he also heard about terrible beatings of Haitians some months before he got there.

Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, who is currently travelling, would only answer to e-mail requests for comment by saying: “You have the government’s statement on all allegations.”

Comments

concernedcitizen says...

Freds travelling ? he got boys ,boys around the world ,,got boys ,boys all over the world ,,,lmao

Posted 28 August 2013, 1:24 p.m. Suggest removal

Actually not if you have read my post over the years .What i am is a hypecrite phob.I find all the bible thumpin no adam and steve nonsense we do such a f,,,, bunch of nonsense when we have watched gay people in our parliment and ZNSnews for 40 yrs ..

Posted 28 August 2013, 5:50 p.m. Suggest removal

banker says...

You don't know the half of it.

Posted 28 August 2013, 2:11 p.m. Suggest removal

I ,m worried for Freddy,s health ,he is internationally dating at an incredible pace ,,gosh what a manly man ,,lmao

Posted 28 August 2013, 2:47 p.m. Suggest removal

wave says...

Gee General, this just won't die!

Posted 28 August 2013, 5:21 p.m. Suggest removal

You always say " no proof " "hearsay " etc or shut up ..You claim to charge foreigners five hundred dollars an hour for consulting .I see no proof of this ,please provide proof ...So far your skills of being rational are not worth fifty cents an hour ..

Posted 28 August 2013, 5:45 p.m. Suggest removal

Take it easy there ,,spyder monkee , let go of the keypad ,you,ll be just fine after the tranquilizer wears off ,,Geez lousie the FNM got 8 members in the house there is not much chance of them setting internal or external policy :therefore , talking about them is just spinning wheels .PS pass the message to Tals

Posted 28 August 2013, 7:28 p.m. Suggest removal

DUDE YOUR WHITE,,WHAT DOES CALLING YOU A SPYDER MONKEE HAVE TO DO WITH RACISM,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,LMFAO

Posted 28 August 2013, 8:38 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

Wow...youre even younger than i thought..I hope your parents catch onto your posts one day and are able to help you to tame the anger. These posts just aren't healthy....

Posted 29 August 2013, 8:40 p.m. Suggest removal

It would be very easy to corroborate his story, he said he spent 6 days in the hospital...and no...it's not for me to carry my butt there and ask for the records...that's ILLEGAL...please don't advise any clients to do that. The relevant authorities can very quickly tell us if this story has any truth to it..

Posted 28 August 2013, 6:05 p.m. Suggest removal

dam i should of put a bigger dart in the tranquilizer gun ,,,geeez

Posted 28 August 2013, 7:31 p.m. Suggest removal

You have no clients that pay you five hundred dollars an hour . Get a grip , ,,,,,,

Posted 28 August 2013, 8:40 p.m. Suggest removal

Posted 28 August 2013, 10:59 p.m. Suggest removal

My goodness i can now see it from your boasting of making 500 dollars an hour ,to your name calling ,to your physic powers of knowing where i get my legal and financial advice , and who i voted for ,,you are clearly an ego maniac w/ self esteem issues and physic abilities ..Interesting combination but apart from the questionable physic powers somewhat boring and predictable..

Posted 28 August 2013, 11:08 p.m. Suggest removal

No CEO talks like you do, its weird

Posted 29 August 2013, 12:56 a.m. Suggest removal

No one has come forward because it would be **illegal** for a hospital worker to call a press conference to say, "hey I have records to show you". There are laws against that. Please don't tell your clients they can demand people's private hospital records. Reminder that no one would have known anything about this story if not for the videotape. The wounds would have healed, the Cubans would have been sent back to Cuba and no Bahamian the wiser. Which was probably the plan..."shhhh...keep it quiet". Imagine their surprise...

Posted 29 August 2013, 12:50 a.m. Suggest removal

Sigh Rory..if a jonser came forward and said hey I saw a light skinned man come into the hospital with huge welts on his back ..you would be the first to attack him and say "where's the proof. How do we know you weren't high? How do we even know where you were there that day. And if you did see him, how do we know he was Cuban? Senseless minion"...and similar tired, non-CEO like attacks would be thrown at non-jonsers

People leak information all the time, in fact that's whats alleged here that someone leaked a report to the FNM. You refuse to believe that the leaked report is real, what you really want is for someone to pull a Snowden. To come forward in front of a camera and say my name is Mary Brown, I work at X as a something or the other, I came across this information in the course of my official duties. I am coming forward because I believe a grave injustice was done. That is really the only evidence you will accept outside of evidence submitted to a court and nobody is going to do it in this country in this day and time.

That leaves both of waiting for some responsible adult, with the appropriate authority, to tell the Bahamian public what transpired based on the July completed investigation.

Posted 29 August 2013, 5:32 a.m. Suggest removal

And more damaging leaked information in today's Tribune...I suppose the PM will only make a decision on a public statement after someone drops thousands of copies of the "official" report (completed in July) on the side of the road for whomever to pick up and read for themselves...

Posted 29 August 2013, 7:34 a.m. Suggest removal

Get help , losing ones grasp of reality and having grandiose thoughts of ones business skills in and of itself don,t always mean mental issues ; however its better to jump on these type of issues early and w/ the new SRI medications treatment usually produces good results .

Posted 29 August 2013, 12:03 p.m. Suggest removal

I was concerned that you were advocating accessing someone's private records, you said explicitly to me that if I was so concerned I should ~*go to the hospital and ask to see the records myself*

That said, yes privacy is a major issue in this country.

And that said, someone was beaten, the evidence is piling up and seems to be irrefutable. Talk to your parents about your anger, get help. You're pretty intelligent for your age I think, but this pent up anger will be your downfall if you don't address it.

Posted 30 August 2013, 5:16 a.m. Suggest removal

nationbuilder says...

wow

Posted 28 August 2013, 6 p.m. Suggest removal