By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE investigation into allegations of an assault on Cuban detainees by Defence Force marines officially began on July 30, more than six weeks after the incident occurred, with an “Investigators’ summary for prosecution” report being submitted to Defence Force Command on August 14, The Tribune has learned.

It has also been revealed that a police investigation into the beating claims was launched on July 24, and ended on July 29.

According to documents obtained by The Tribune, on July 30, the Commander of the Defence Force, Commodore Rodrick Bowe, directed an intelligence officer to begin an investigation into claims that three Cuban detainees were beaten by officers on June 13.

However, two weeks before this, on June 16, the commodore, after getting information from Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, ordered a probe into a “staged” video created by Cuban detainees that purported to show such beatings, the documents said.

The following day, Mr Mitchell is reported as having said: “This appears to be a manufactured attempt to create a damaging and defamatory impression of the Bahamas. The television station ought to be ashamed of itself for publishing something which is so patently false. It is irresponsible of them to publish it knowing the passions that these matters can inflame.

“That video is a complete falsehood and an outrageous concoction.

“It remains to be said that 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 alleged victims were Carlos Pupo, 42; Alexander Vasquez, 27; and 24-year-old Yordon Cantero.

Seven Defence Force Marines are accused of assaulting the men.

According to a report labelled “Investigators Summary for Prosecution”, on Sunday, June 16, investigators met and spoke with detainees Popo and Cantero.

Vasquez was not present at the meeting because he had been admitted to hospital for a collapsed lung and broken ribs, injuries he sustained while attempting to escape on June 13, according to the report.

Yesterday, State Minister for National Security Keith Bell told the press that as far as he knew, Vasquez was admitted to hospital not because of a beating, but rather because he had wired his mouth shut and needed treatment for this.

According to the report, detainees admitted to investigators that their motive for making the video was to show the world how the marines assaulted them. They also confirmed that the video was re-enacted at the Defence Force Base’s male dormitory and taken by a Cuban detainee called Chino. Chino took the photos with his cell phone camera. The male shown in the shower with his back exposed to reveal his bruises, was Carlos Pupo.

On June 24, investigators interviewed Defence Force Officer 2. (The officer’s name is recorded in the document, but in this article The Tribune will refer to him as Officer 2).

According to the documents, Officer 2 confessed to his taking part in the assault. He also implicated three other officers with inflicting harm upon the victims.

On June 26, a detective from the Central Detective Unit with a certified translator and a sworn interpreter of Her Majesty’s Courts, conducted interviews with the three victims and took written signed statements.

They noted that the accounts of the assaults from the detainees were consistent with Officer 2’s confession.

On August 1, a Staff Intelligence Officer and another Defence Force Officer met and spoke with the victims.

They showed them 14 pages, containing a 12-man, 8-man and 6-man gallery of photographs of random marines, including the seven marines who were suspected.

All three of the victims identified, by pointing and signing their names on the photographs, the marines suspected of assaulting them.

Between August 2 and 12, investigators conducted interviews with the seven marines named as suspects.

The report says, four marines confessed to the direct assault of the Cuban detainees and also spoke of the actions they witnessed being taken by the remaining suspects.

Three of the marines signed their records of interview with the exception of Officer 2.

On August 2, Officer 2, during the official record of interview, recanted his earlier confession given on June 25.

When asked why he changed his position Officer 2 said he was informed that police were looking to charge him for the offence.

He refused to reveal the source of his information and refused to answer the majority of questions put to him.

Investigators also noted that three of the confessions by the other officers pointed to Defence Force Officer 3 as being the most violent suspect, inflicting the greatest damage to the detainees with a length of PCV pipe.

According to the report, Officer 3 was unwilling to assist the investigators in answering any of the 35 questions put to him by remaining silent.

He also refused to sign the record. When asked to make a statement he said: “I already have a written report.”

However, investigators claim that report has gone “missing in the winds and currents of naval bureaucracy”, according to the documents.

Defence Force Officer 4 also refused to answer basic questions put to him.

In summarising the evidence, the investigator said: “These marines all admit that at no time were the detainees a threat to them while in their custody at the Guard House, yet they still inflicted violent beatings to them.

“The only account of any aggression on the part of the victims was in transit to the Guard House, where in front of the Immigration Office one of the detainees attempted to shake loose from the arms of an officer and run.

“The refusal of (Officer 3 and Officer 4) to participate in the process and render answers to basic questions demonstrates a strong degree of malice.

“The confession of Officer 2 is also a matter of record irrespective of his denial . . . it must count as credible undocumented evidence to the prosecution process.

According to the report, Defence Force Officer 6 witnessed the assaults, however he failed to report them to his superior or relevant authorities.

“His silence and failure to report the assault makes him complicit in this matter. Therefore he must be made to bear some burden of guilt for shedding the responsibility. By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

THE investigation into allegations of an assault on Cuban detainees by Defence Force marines officially began on July 30, more than six weeks after the incident occurred, with an “Investigators’ summary for prosecution” report being submitted to Defence Force Command on August 14, The Tribune has learned.

It has also been revealed that a police investigation into the beating claims was launched on July 24, and ended on July 29.

According to documents obtained by The Tribune, on July 30, the Commander of the Defence Force, Commodore Rodrick Bowe, directed an intelligence officer to begin an investigation into claims that three Cuban detainees were beaten by officers on June 13.

However, two weeks before this, on June 16, the commodore, after getting information from Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, ordered a probe into a “staged” video created by Cuban detainees that purported to show such beatings, the documents said.

The following day, Mr Mitchell is reported as having said: “This appears to be a manufactured attempt to create a damaging and defamatory impression of the Bahamas. The television station ought to be ashamed of itself for publishing something which is so patently false. It is irresponsible of them to publish it knowing the passions that these matters can inflame.

“That video is a complete falsehood and an outrageous concoction.

“It remains to be said that 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 alleged victims were Carlos Pupo, 42; Alexander Vasquez, 27; and 24-year-old Yordon Cantero.

Seven Defence Force Marines are accused of assaulting the men.

According to a report labelled “Investigators Summary for Prosecution”, on Sunday, June 16, investigators met and spoke with detainees Popo and Cantero.

Vasquez was not present at the meeting because he had been admitted to hospital for a collapsed lung and broken ribs, injuries he sustained while attempting to escape on June 13, according to the report.

Yesterday, State Minister for National Security Keith Bell told the press that as far as he knew, Vasquez was admitted to hospital not because of a beating, but rather because he had wired his mouth shut and needed treatment for this.

According to the report, detainees admitted to investigators that their motive for making the video was to show the world how the marines assaulted them. They also confirmed that the video was re-enacted at the Defence Force Base’s male dormitory and taken by a Cuban detainee called Chino. Chino took the photos with his cell phone camera. The male shown in the shower with his back exposed to reveal his bruises, was Carlos Pupo.

On June 24, investigators interviewed Defence Force Officer 2. (The officer’s name is recorded in the document, but in this article The Tribune will refer to him as Officer 2).

According to the documents, Officer 2 confessed to his taking part in the assault. He also implicated three other officers with inflicting harm upon the victims.

On June 26, a detective from the Central Detective Unit with a certified translator and a sworn interpreter of Her Majesty’s Courts, conducted interviews with the three victims and took written signed statements.

They noted that the accounts of the assaults from the detainees were consistent with Officer 2’s confession.

On August 1, a Staff Intelligence Officer and another Defence Force Officer met and spoke with the victims.

They showed them 14 pages, containing a 12-man, 8-man and 6-man gallery of photographs of random marines, including the seven marines who were suspected.

All three of the victims identified, by pointing and signing their names on the photographs, the marines suspected of assaulting them.

Between August 2 and 12, investigators conducted interviews with the seven marines named as suspects.

The report says, four marines confessed to the direct assault of the Cuban detainees and also spoke of the actions they witnessed being taken by the remaining suspects.

Three of the marines signed their records of interview with the exception of Officer 2.

On August 2, Officer 2, during the official record of interview, recanted his earlier confession given on June 25.

When asked why he changed his position Officer 2 said he was informed that police were looking to charge him for the offence.

He refused to reveal the source of his information and refused to answer the majority of questions put to him.

Investigators also noted that three of the confessions by the other officers pointed to Defence Force Officer 3 as being the most violent suspect, inflicting the greatest damage to the detainees with a length of PCV pipe.

According to the report, Officer 3 was unwilling to assist the investigators in answering any of the 35 questions put to him by remaining silent.

He also refused to sign the record. When asked to make a statement he said: “I already have a written report.”

However, investigators claim that report has gone “missing in the winds and currents of naval bureaucracy”, according to the documents.

Defence Force Officer 4 also refused to answer basic questions put to him.

In summarising the evidence, the investigator said: “These marines all admit that at no time were the detainees a threat to them while in their custody at the Guard House, yet they still inflicted violent beatings to them.

“The only account of any aggression on the part of the victims was in transit to the Guard House, where in front of the Immigration Office one of the detainees attempted to shake loose from the arms of an officer and run.

“The refusal of (Officer 3 and Officer 4) to participate in the process and render answers to basic questions demonstrates a strong degree of malice.

“The confession of Officer 2 is also a matter of record irrespective of his denial . . . it must count as credible undocumented evidence to the prosecution process.

According to the report, Defence Force Officer 6 witnessed the assaults, however he failed to report them to his superior or relevant authorities.

“His silence and failure to report the assault makes him complicit in this matter. Therefore he must be made to bear some burden of guilt for shedding the responsibility.

Defence Force Officer 1 and Defence Force Officer 5 were taking orders from Officer 4 and “some merit must be put forth on their behalf that they were young marines who got sucked into a vortex of a violent frenzied environment created by Officer 3 and Officer 4.”

This “Summary of Prosecution” was handed over to the Intelligence Department of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force on August 14, the report states.

Defence Force Officer 1 and Defence Force Officer 5 were taking orders from Officer 4 and “some merit must be put forth on their behalf that they were young marines who got sucked into a vortex of a violent frenzied environment created by Officer 3 and Officer 4.”

This “Summary of Prosecution” was handed over to the Intelligence Department of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force on August 14, the report states.