BORDER SPLIT
• St James police probe reports of additional Cuban refugees • Human rights activist bemoans treatment of Haitian illegal entrants
Published:Wednesday | June 4, 2025 | 12:09 AMCorey Robinson/Senior Staff Reporter
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Police in Montego Bay, St James, are probing reports that another group of Cuban refugees landed in Rose Hall on Monday hours after six of their countrymen arrived illegally on the island via boat. At the same time, there are concerns from one...
Police in Montego Bay, St James, are probing reports that another group of Cuban refugees landed in Rose Hall on Monday hours after six of their countrymen arrived illegally on the island via boat. At the same time, there are concerns from one human rights activist regarding the disparity in the treatment meted out to refugees from Cuba versus those from Haiti.
Reports reaching The Gleaner are that the second group of Cubans rounded out a suspected 40 who turned up on Jamaican shores over the weekend. Residents claim that they are hiding in and around the Rose Hall area, but up to yesterday afternoon, police were still unable to confirm.
“We have the team on the lookout, but there is no active search because we can’t confirm,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Eron Samuels, the officer in charge of the St James Police Division. “Like I said, we do have our intelligence teams looking around, however.”
In the meantime, Samuels said the six Cuban refugees who drifted ashore Sunday evening remained in custody up to yesterday evening, almost three days after arriving on the island.
The lawman said they are being dealt with by the relevant agencies, locally and internationally. Up to yesterday afternoon, their fate regarding repatriation was still unclear, sparking criticism from at least one human rights activist who called attention to Jamaica’s treatment of Haitians in comparison to the Cuban refugees.
DEFENDED PROTOCOLS
Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, the minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, was last year forced to defend Jamaica’s refugee protocols after rights groups Freedom Imaginaries and Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) accused the Government of violating international law by engaging in what they deemed “collective expulsion” without properly assessing asylum claims.
Yesterday, attorney Marcus Goffe, who has been particularly vocal on refugee issues in Jamaica over the years, noted the swiftness with which Haitian illegal entrants to the island are dealt with in comparison to others, arguing that they are seldom treated with dignity and patience despite being part of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
“It is very unfortunate that the Government has this very deliberate and targeted policy towards Haitians that kind of singles them out and sets them apart for the worst treatment under a presumption of guilt,” he charged, claiming that Haiti is still being punished today for being a “strong black nation”.
“Clearly, what is happening in Haiti is not happening in Cuba. I am certainly not anti-Cuba at all. I’m not discouraging any Cuba-Jamaica relations, but in terms of what is happening now in Haiti, I think it behoves the Government of Jamaica to step up and be more responsible to persons of whom we know their history and the current reality.
“While not pouring cold water on the Cuba-Jamaica relationship, I am saying that at this point in time, Haiti is the country most in need of our humanitarian support. There is nowhere else in the Caribbean that is going through this, and as you know, Haiti is the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere. Remember, the region is as strong as its weakest link.”
According to international group Human Rights Watch, nearly 703,000 persons, 25 per cent of whom are children, are internally displaced in Haiti. The total is more than double the figures in previous years due to unabated decades-long crime and social instability. Meanwhile, reports out of Cuba suggest that living conditions worsened significantly there following the passage of Hurricane Rafael, which struck western Cuba in late 2024.
The Jamaican Government has repeatedly come under heavy scrutiny for allegedly violating international law, deporting Haitian refugees within a short period of time. Among recent incidents was when, in September 2023, Jamaica repatriated 36 Haitians within 24 hours of their arrival on the island. At the time, it was deemed that among the Haitian refugees were individuals who posed a national security risk to the island.
The 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees and its 1967 Protocol prohibit the forced removal of people to a place where they may face risks of persecution, torture, or other serious or irreparable harm, a stipulation that advocacy groups Freedom Imaginaries and JFJ have, for years, been reminding the Jamaican Government.