Last week, we told you that sixteen Cubans were rescued near Coco Beach Resort, three miles north of San Pedro Town. They'd left Grand Cayman on August 26th and were reportedly on their way to Honduras where some of them wanted to seek asylum - but their boat quit on them and left them stranded. But since they were found stranded in Belize waters without documentation, they were detained by immigration and charged under the Immigration Act for being a prohibited immigrant.
Well, they won't be in the country much longer since, after their court session today, they were ordered to be removed from the country. According to their attorney, Orson "OJ" Elrington, their boat was having some kind of mechanical failure due to the bad weather and they eventually ran out of gas. He said that they never intended to come to Belize, and it was on that basis that he defended them.
Now, the problem is - what happens next?
Here's what Elrington told us about the proceedings today.
Orson "OJ" Elrington, Attorney
"The arguments I presented to the court was that when dealing with a criminal matter, that you have both the actus reus which is the actual action but you must also have the mens rea which is the mental element and the arguments that I put before the court was that these persons did not intend to enter Belize and therefore since that was not their intention and even the authorities relayed that, they told them that on the very first instance when they communicated with them, it was not their intention to be in Belize. The Chief Magistrate disagreed with me and they believe that it was a strict liability matter and considering the circumstances that she would feel as though they were still prohibited persons. But she decided to exercise her discretion based on the arguments that we had made and decided that they would not be levied with the usual penalty fine nor would they be subjected to confinement."
"The Chief Magistrate did also issue a removal order which means that they are to be removed from the country, once it is the authorities along with us are able to. Make the necessary arrangements for them to leave the country."
"Normally, persons are returned to their country of origin, most times, if not, persons would be returned by flight but in this unique circumstances, obviously this is a unique situation where they were on a boat and they had no intention to be here in Belize whatsoever so what happens now, I'm not exactly sure, it is something we have to communicate with the authorities and then the authorities will make the necessary arrangements to ensure that they leave Belize, that is what the removal order says, that they will leave Belize."
Courtney Menzies:
"What happens to their vessel?"
Orson "OJ" Elrington, Attorney
"Very good question and that is one of the questions that we have to speak with the authorities about, and that is what we're saying, how then… that is their property, that is no question, do you simply send them back on a flight, you can't send a boat on a fight, there was no order for there to be a seizure of their asset so how exactly do we deal with the asset itself and is it that they take them to international waters and say, well, you're in international waters now, go. That is a matter for the authorities."
Only 9 of the sixteen Cubans were represented by Elrington. In court, they told the Chief Magistrate that they were trying to seek asylum in Cayman, but were denied so they fled but left their passports there.
