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Max Hamata. The Namibian (Windhoek).
AllAfrica.com. December 11, 2002
THE United Nations refugee body in Namibia has started interviewing a Cuban
couple to assess their plea for political asylum.
A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), David Nthengwe, told The Namibian that consultations had also begun
with the Ministry of Home Affairs to determine the couple's status in Namibia.
Global human rights watch body, Amnesty International, last week asked the
UNHCR to solicit political asylum for the Cuban pair from Namibian authorities.
Pedro Osvaldo Ortegas Suarez and his wife, Jeny Megalis Hernandez Heredia,
were detained in Namibia on November 8 on suspicion that they were illegal
immigrants.
Amnesty said it was concerned that the couple's safety "may be at risk"
should they be deported back to Cuba.
Nthengwe said: "We are looking into the matter to see if these people
are of concern to the organisation (UNHCR). This week we have started
interviewing them to see if they are of concern to us."
Niilo Taapopi, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs said it
was "unfair" for the Cuban couple to claim political asylum after
working in Namibia illegally for more than a year.
"The Cubans applied for refugee status after they were arrested for
working illegally in the country. I don't think it is fair to us for them to
seek asylum only after they have been caught doing something illegal,"
Taapopi said.
Taapopi said the couple's request would be independently assessed by the
Refugee Committee.
"At the end of the day the Refugee Committee which is an independent
body will decide their fate. The law will take its course," he said.
Pedro Osvaldo Ortegas Suarez is still in Police detention in Windhoek while
his wife, Heredia, is free on N$2 000 bail.
The couple said in a letter to the UNHCR's Windhoek Senior Protection
Officer, Magda Medina, and UNHCR's Pretoria-based Director, Ilunga Ngandu, that:
"Because of our fear of being persecuted in Cuba, we are unable and
unwilling to avail ourselves the protection of the government of Cuba and
therefore unwilling to return to Cuba."
The couple said they were "prepared and willing to avail ourselves of
the protection of the Government of Namibia and in so doing to comply with the
laws of Namibia as well as those of the United Nations relating to the status of
refugees".
The couple lived in Angola for two years before moving to Windhoek. | 
