CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Migrants' torment

Cuban and Haitian migrants detained in the Bahamas told The Herald that they have been beaten and otherwise mistreated.

By Joe Mozingo. jmozingo@herald.com Posted on Sun, Jan. 23, 2005.

NASSAU, Bahamas - In a place where tourists come to lounge on the beach and sip rum drinks, illegal Cuban and Haitian migrants in a government detention center claim that they are regularly beaten while handcuffed, subjected to extortion and denied clean water and medical treatment.

''They beat us like dogs,'' said Alexi León Ortuota, a 33-year-old Cuban detainee. "They don't give us soap or drinking water. They give us nothing.''

The allegations by inmates during a Herald visit to the Carmichael Detention Centre were backed by a Jamaican and a Briton recently held there. And Amnesty International has reported detainee complaints that guards beat them, forced several to eat off the ground, raped two women and subjected two Cuban men to mock executions.

The situation reached a flash point last month, when a showdown between Cuban migrants and soldiers who guard the camp ended with the detainees being sprayed with rubber bullets and a barrack burned down. A government statement said 16 detainees and guards were injured.

More than 40 Cubans involved in the melee were transferred to Nassau's Fox Hill criminal prison, accused of setting fire to the barrack. Twenty-two of them remain there but are yet to see a lawyer or speak to their families.

While many details of the Dec. 9 incident are in dispute, it drew the wrath of Cuban exile groups in Miami and further complaints from Amnesty International.

The Herald was granted rare approval to visit both the Carmichael and Fox Hill facilities. Although government officials escorted the reporter, they understood neither Spanish nor Haitian Creole, and the detainees spoke openly about the alleged abuses.

''We are not criminals,'' David Martínez Pérez, 37, said in an interview in his cell at Fox Hill, where six inmates share one cell with four beds. "We didn't commit a crime. We are immigrants. This is inhuman.''

The highly charged situation in this relatively affluent and peaceful former British colony reflects a growing fear and resentment that the islands' 300,000 residents will be overrun by illegal migrants.

With two giant, restless populations on its southern flank -- 7.6 million in Haiti, 11.3 million in Cuba -- the Bahamas have become coral stepping stones to South Florida. Last year alone, 4,642 illegal migrants were interdicted in its vast territorial waters.

ABUSE DENIED

Bahamian officials deny allegations of widespread abuse.

''We are accommodating unwelcome strangers,'' said Immigration Minister Vincent Peet. "We try to be as humane as we can. . . . Can there be sensitivity training? Yes.''

The Carmichael Detention Centre is operated as a temporary holding camp for illegal migrants while any potential requests for political asylum are processed. The four barracks sit in a shadeless field surrounded by razor wire and guard towers.

The vast majority of detainees are Haitians, who are normally deported just days after their arrival. Cubans can languish for months as the Bahamian and Cuban governments process their claims of political asylum. Most are ultimately sent back to Cuba.

An Amnesty International report in 2003 accused Bahamian authorities of trying "to deter further illegal migration by maintaining miserable conditions at the Centre.''

SPECIFIC ALLEGATIONS

The report alleged that the detainees were beaten and denied access to doctors and clean water, and noted 'allegations of the sexual abuse of female detainees, including male staff watching women naked, two allegations of rape and allegations of 'consensual' sexual conduct between female detainees and male guards.''

Under pressure, the Bahamian government launched an inquiry. Its findings, released Dec. 8: no evidence of mistreatment.

The next day, tensions snapped. Two Cubans and a Dominican detainee jumped the fences and escaped. Then, the government claims, Cubans locked themselves in their barrack and set it on fire. The officers fired rubber bullets at the detainees to gain control.

The Cuban prisoners vehemently deny that they provoked it. ''We are not crazy,'' Omar Gonzalez, 39, told The Herald at Fox Hill. "We are not going to light a fire where we are trapped.''

They said they were staging a peaceful hunger strike when soldiers stormed in, firing rubber bullets. The Cubans say that they used a foam mattress to fend off the bullets, and that the shooting was so intense that the foam caught fire.

POOR CONDITIONS

They were taken to Fox Hill, where conditions in their wing are cramped and overcrowded, and they are allowed outside for only a half-hour four times a week. Most have nothing to read, some have to sleep on the floor, and some cells have no water or working toilets. In those cells, they ask other prisoners to pour toilet water into rubber gloves and slide them down the hall.

At Carmichael, the living conditions depend on the number of detainees, which can swing dramatically. With an official capacity of 500 detainees, the facility has held as many as 700 before, immigration officials say. Only 153 people were there on the day of The Herald visit.

Officials would let a reporter into only one of the barracks, the women's, which had far fewer people than the others.

Inside, a group of Haitian women lingered in silence on the iron bed frames. A toddler ran around, toting a balloon made of a surgical glove.

Several women said they had left Haiti on a boat after flooding from Hurricane Jeanne devastated their city, Gonaives. The surge of water in September killed almost 3,000 people.

''I lost all my family members,'' said Navera Gedela St. Val, 30. "I'm the only surviving member of my family. I had to look for a better life.''

Outside, men crowded against the fence to talk. Several of them said they were members of a Cuban opposition group known as November 30.

Some had been at Carmichael for as long as 10 months. They complained of beatings, poor food, rancid bathrooms, sleeping on the floor, no medical treatment.

''I have asthma,'' one man said. "I need an inhaler, but they won't give it to me.''

The complaints about Carmichael were bolstered by two recently released detainees.

Omar Jones, 24, a Jamaican and father of three, said he landed in Carmichael on Dec. 11 for not having up-to-date immigration papers. He has lived in the Bahamas for most of his life and is married to a member of the defense force.

One day at the center, Jones said, a guard accused him of trying to jump the fence. He was cuffed and taken into a side building, thrown to the floor and stomped and kicked until his eye swelled shut.

'He said, 'You Jamaicans think you all so bad,' '' Jones recounted.

A British man, David Bright, related a similar story. He said he was handcuffed and beaten in the same building last year after he mouthed off to a guard who was trying to extort money for the use of his cellphone, an allegedly common scheme.

Bright said he is still haunted by the ''degradation, humiliation and beatings'' at the center.

''To take a beating for no reason is like having your soul ripped away,'' he said.

Basulto wins $1.75M against Cuba

The head of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue won a $1.75 million judgment against the Cuban government for emotional trauma suffered after the 1996 shoot-down of two search planes.

By Jay Weaver, jweaver@herald.com. Posted on Sat, Jan. 22, 2005

José Basulto, founder of the exile group Brothers to the Rescue, has won a $1.75 million federal judgment against the Cuban government for an attack on his and two other Brothers' planes almost a decade ago, costing the lives of four pilots and passengers.

Basulto survived the Feb. 24, 1996, attacks by Cuban MiGs in international airspace over the Florida Straits. But he said in his 2003 lawsuit that he feared for his life during the attack and has suffered emotional trauma since the assault.

''This continued fear has affected his daily life activities and ability to enjoy life, such as eating, sleeping, socializing and, not surprisingly, flying,'' U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra wrote in a ruling circulated Friday that awarded compensatory damages to Basulto.

Marra dismissed Basulto's claims against Cuban President Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl Castro and the Cuban air force. The Cuban government did not have anyone represent its interests at the trial.

Basulto, whose Opa-locka Airport-based group searches for Cubans trying to sail to the United States, said he was pleased with the ruling against the Cuban government but disappointed in the amount of the final judgment. He had sought $75.9 million in damages -- money he wanted to use to launch a new organization to push democracy on the island.

GRATIFIED

''I am happy that we had another moral victory against the government of Cuba,'' said Basulto, 64. "But we had hoped for a larger judgment that would have made possible a fund to promote democracy in Cuba.''

He said he still plans to use the award money -- if he ever collects it -- for the pro-democracy group.

Basulto, like a handful of others who also won suits in state and federal courts in Miami, was able to pierce the Cuban government's sovereign immunity under a 1996 law that allows victims of U.S.-designated terrorist states to sue for damages.

The 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act has allowed the families of Brothers' fliers shot down by the Cuban air force, the daughter of a CIA pilot killed by the Cuban government, the jilted wife of a Cuban spy and the survivors of an American businessman executed during Cuba's revolution to challenge Castro's government in court.

Despite the legal victories, only the families of three Brothers' shoot-down victims have been successful in collecting damages from seized Cuban assets held in U.S. banks. The total collection: $93 million -- only about half of the $187 million court judgment.

The families won their federal suit in 1997, but it took four years of heavy lobbying before the Treasury Department and President Bill Clinton signed off on releasing the money.

The plaintiffs in the other three cases have not been as successful in collecting millions in damages.

Judicial Watch, a conservative, Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group that filed the suit on Basulto's behalf, said the Brothers to the Rescue president was "nearly murdered in the terrorist act.''

''This is another step in the road to accountability for Castro and his regime,'' said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. "I can imagine that Castro must be fuming that José Basulto, whom he tried to have murdered, will be collecting $1.75 million from his government coffers. We're confident we'll be able to obtain this judgment.''

The Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., did not return phone calls Friday.

In February 1996, three Brothers' civilian planes embarked on a flight to search for rafters in the Florida Straits. As the planes were in international airspace approaching Cuban territory, the pilots notified the Cuban authorities of their presence in the area under a protocol established with the U.S. government.

After a Cuban MiG passed in the front of Basulto's single-engine Cessna, he exclaimed: "They are going to shoot us! They are going to shoot us!''

Basulto lost contact with the other two Brothers' planes, which were shot down. Two Brothers' pilots and two passengers were killed.

TERRIFYING PERIOD

According to Basulto, the Cuban pilots stayed with him for about a half hour. He and others on board his plane were terrified.

''We are next,'' Basulto said.

They eventually returned home safely.

The judge noted Basulto's words at trial: "I have a MiG on my tail for the rest of my life.''

Old Cuban fashion made fresh

Rene La Villa is modernizing a Cuban classic, the guayabera. His business, now growing on Miracle Mile, has brought new styles to an old trend.

By Angela B. Castillo, abcastillo@herald.com. Posted on Sun, Jan. 23, 2005.

When 11-month-old Miguel Gimenez was baptized last summer, the priest at Church of Little Flower in Coral Gables splashed water on his forehead but didn't get any on the boy's white, Irish linen guayabera.

The baby had his outfit specially made by his mom, Angela Gimenez, who works for her father's store ''Guayaberas Etc.,'' which recently opened its third branch at 270 Miracle Mile.

Miguel's sporty outfit was styled like the traditional Cuban shirt, which extended like regular baby clothes to cover his body and button between his legs.

Grandpa Rene La Villa added the baby line to his clothing store right after grandson Miguel's baptism so that he could have a wider range of future customers.

''We wanted [Miguelito] to wear a guayabera for that special occasion to reaffirm his Latin roots,'' said La Villa, 62. "I hope that he carries on the tradition of our family business, because we've seen the fruit of our efforts throughout the years and we're very proud of it.''

With his store on Miracle Mile, La Villa, a native from Cuba, wants to add some modern styles to the traditional shirt. This means additional women's and children's clothing, which is designed by his daughter Angela.

''I think that we've introduced the guayabera to other generations,'' said Angela Gimenez, 32. ''We've given a modern twist to the classic, and that's what we sell and what most people like.''

The Guayaberas Etc. stores feature a wide assortment of guayaberas and tropical chic attire in different colors and styles for men, women and children. There's a strapless dress for women, with the shirt's traditional pleats and buttons, and halter tops that match with capri pants. Prices range from $22 to $125.

The stores also offer accessories that include cuff links, straw hats, shoes, sandals, purses and cigar boxes.

''I think this is one of the best shops in town. I come all the way from Amsterdam to get these shirts. They are very fresh, comfortable, and one really looks good in it,'' said Martin J. Degen, 58.

Sondra Light, 71, a resident of Miami Beach, is another customer.

''I've always admired the look of the garment. It's very masculine, tropical, and it resonates with the culture of Miami,'' Light said.

La Villa started his business as a wholesaler and designer of guayaberas in Miami in 1978. But it was not until 1998 that he opened his first Guayaberas Etc. store on Bird Road.

During the same year, he also set up an e-commerce website www.guayberashirt.com. Four years later, La Villa opened a second store in Hialeah.

La Villa, who graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1966, came to the United States at age 18 at the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. He married his wife Teresa while in New Jersey.

The newlyweds became interested in the clothing business once they traveled to Puerto Rico and saw the demand for fine clothing.

La Villa is planning to expand his business internationally. He recently traveled to Mexico, where he is exploring manufacturing and selling guayaberas at resorts.

''We've been buying clothing material from Mexico for many years, and during those years I have made friends who are now helping me to take my business to resorts in Acapulco, Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City and others. I believe that with God's help, our business will flourish over there, as well,'' La Villa said.

Opportunity knockout for Cuban boxer

After a surprise TKO last summer, Cuban heavyweight Yamplier Diaz goes for a regional title tonight in Miami.

By Santos A. Perez, sperez@herald.com. Posted on Sat, Jan. 22, 2005.

Fighting in relative anonymity, Yamplier ''Yanqui'' Diaz more than capitalized on the sudden opportunity the Cuban heavyweight earned last summer.

Diaz became a last-minute opponent in what was expected to be a tuneup bout for countryman Juan Carlos Gomez. Instead of an easy victory, Gomez met a devastating fate, and now his heavyweight prospects have taken a serious setback.

Diaz scored a first-round technical-knockout victory, giving him instant recognition in the star-lacking division.

''When I won the fight, I knew the doors would open,'' Diaz said.

"And now, I am going for a title.''

The fruits of defeating Gomez earned Diaz a regional title bout against Nigeria's Samuel Peter in the top undercard fight of tonight's boxing show at AmericanAirlines Arena. The bout also opens the HBO telecast (10 p.m.), which also includes Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Henry Bruseles in the main event.

''At the moment, I was training to fight any highly ranked fighter,'' Diaz said of landing the Gomez bout. "My promoter, Bob Arum, offered me the opportunity, and I took it.

"I knew about Gomez in Cuba, but he didn't know about me. I saw his fights, and knew he was a good fighter.''

'LIKE FIGHTING IN CUBA'

For Diaz, 28, the bout with Peter (21-0, 18 KOs) warrants more attention than in his previous local appearance, when Diaz won a unanimous decision against fellow Cuban Aurelio Perez last May at the Miami Jai-Alai fronton.

''Fighting in Miami is like fighting in Cuba because you have so many of your compatriots here,'' Diaz said.

"Hopefully, this time I will have more people supporting me than my last time here.''

Diaz deserted Cuba during a visit to Mexico two years ago. After starting his professional career with two bouts in Mexico, Diaz entered the United States and has since established residency in Las Vegas. He has a 13-1 record with eight knockouts.

''In Cuba, I didn't reach the maximum where I wanted to because perhaps better boxers or because boxers like me weren't given the opportunity,'' Diaz said. "You had no other opportunities in the amateurs, so I knew professional boxing was a step I wanted to take.

"Las Vegas is where the sport thrives, so I decided to establish my career there.''

KEY BOUT

And though the victory against Gomez indeed lifted Gomez from obscurity, the bout with Peter could further enhance his status in the heavyweight division. Considered a young prospect, Peter also will be making his second South Florida appearance after a win against Jovo Pudar last August at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood.

''I know him very well. We train in the same gym in Las Vegas and have actually done glove work together,'' Diaz said. "He's helped me for his fights, and I've helped him for his.

"I always thought I would fight him but not this soon in our careers. I know it's going to be a very difficult fight, but I am prepared just as I'm sure he's prepared.''

Tonight's six-bout card, which starts at 7:30, also features the professional debut of heavyweight and 2004 Olympian Victor Brisbal of Puerto Rico. Brisbal will face Doug Robertson.

Elián protesters' suit to begin

A civil trial against the United States is set to begin Monday in which 12 people claim they were beaten and tear-gassed during the 2000 raid to seize Elián Gonzalez.

By Jay Weaver. jweaver@herald.com Posted on Sat, Jan. 22, 2005.

A dozen protesters who claimed they were gassed during the U.S. raid in 2000 to seize Cuban rafter Elián González from the home of his Miami relatives are going to trial against the federal government on Monday.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore is allowing only those demonstrators who were behind government barricades or on their own property and were ''gassed at close range'' by federal agents using tear gas or pepper spray to challenge whether the agents' use of force was reasonable.

''Our clients are pleased to get their day in court about what happened that night,'' said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, the conservative, Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group that filed the suit in 2003.

''The force used by government agents was unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination,'' he said.

"It's disappointing that the Bush administration has defended the actions of the Clinton administration to the hilt.''

The dozen plaintiffs are seeking financial damages for assault and battery and emotional distress claims.

Originally, more than 100 protesters sued the government, claiming they were beaten and gassed by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents during the raid to reunite the 6-year-old with his Cuban father.

But Moore reduced the total number of plaintiffs, saying the government's use of gas was "objectively reasonable under the circumstances.''

Moore, in a Jan. 18 ruling, ruled in favor of the government regarding those protesters who "were in the González home [in Little Havana], on the González property, crossed the barricades or were behind the barricades or on their property and not gassed at close range.''

Then-Attorney General Janet Reno authorized the raid after the boy's great-uncle, Lazáro González, defied the immigration service's order to turn him over to the agency.

The Elián custody battle erupted almost immediately after two Broward County men rescued the boy while he was floating atop an inner tube off Fort Lauderdale on Thanksgiving Day 1999.

One of the men, Donato Dalrymple, was dismissed as a plaintiff because he was in the González home when armed INS agents seized Elián.

The protesters' initial suit filed against Reno and other top U.S. officials was dismissed because the courts ruled they had immunity.

Cuba's Diaz earns his way to HBO telecast

By Santos A. Perez, Knight Ridder Newspapers. Posted on Fri, Jan. 21, 2005.

MIAMI - (KRT) - Fighting in relative anonymity, Yamplier "Yanqui'' Diaz more than capitalized on the sudden opportunity the Cuban heavyweight earned last summer.

Diaz became a last-minute opponent in what was expected to be a tuneup bout for countryman Juan Carlos Gomez. Instead of an easy victory, Gomez met a devastating fate, and now his heavyweight prospects have taken a serious setback.

Diaz scored a first-round technical-knockout victory, giving him instant recognition in the star-lacking division.

"When I won the fight, I knew the doors would open,'' Diaz said.

"And now I am going for a title.''

The fruits of defeating Gomez earned Diaz a regional title bout against Nigeria's Samuel Peter in the top undercard fight of Saturday night's boxing show at AmericanAirlines Arena. The bout also opens the HBO telecast (10 p.m.), which also includes Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Henry Bruseles in the main event.

"At the moment, I was training to fight any highly ranked fighter,'' Diaz said of landing the Gomez bout. "My promoter, Bob Arum, offered me the opportunity and I took it.

"I knew about Gomez in Cuba, but he didn't know about me. I saw his fights and knew he was a good fighter.''

For Diaz, 28, the bout with Peter (21-0, 18 KOs) warrants more attention than in his previous local appearance, when Diaz won a unanimous decision against fellow Cuban Aurelio Perez last May at the Miami Jai-Alai fronton.

"Fighting in Miami is like fighting in Cuba because you have so many of your compatriots here,'' Diaz said.

"Hopefully, this time I will have more people supporting me than my last time here.''

Diaz deserted Cuba during a visit to Mexico two years ago. After starting his professional career with two bouts in Mexico, Diaz entered the United States and has since established residency in Las Vegas. He has a 13-1 record with eight knockouts.

"In Cuba, I didn't reach the maximum where I wanted to because perhaps better boxers or because boxers like me weren't given the opportunity,'' Diaz said. "You had no other opportunities in the amateurs, so I knew professional boxing was a step I wanted to take.

"Las Vegas is where the sport thrives, so I decided to establish my career there.''

And while the victory against Gomez indeed lifted Gomez from obscurity, the bout with Peter could further enhance his status in the heavyweight division. Considered a young prospect, Peter also will be making his second South Florida appearance after a victory against Jovo Pudar last August at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood.

"I know him very well. We train in the same gym in Las Vegas and have actually done glove work together,'' Diaz said. "He's helped me for his fights, and I've helped him for his.

"I always thought I would fight him but not this soon in our careers. I know it's going to be a very difficult fight, but I am prepared just as I'm sure he's prepared.''

Saturday night's six-bout card, which starts at 7:30 p.m., also features the professional debut of heavyweight and 2004 Olympian Victor Brisbal of Puerto Rico. Brisbal will face Doug Robertson.

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