POLITICS-CUBA: Justice Hardens Against Smugglers of Emigrants

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Sep 21 1999 (IPS) - Cuban justice sent a message when it handed down harsh sentences against two people found guilty of illegal trafficking of emigrants, in a case that cost one person’s life and endangered the lives of several children.

The Provincial Court of Havana sentenced Joel Dorta to life in prison and David García to 30 years, according to a release by the state-run press Tuesday.

Dorta and García are Cuban residents of the United States, while their accomplice, who received a 15-year sentence, Pedro Córdova González, is from Mariel, 35 km northeast of Havana.

The court declared it had proven that the defendants had tried to transport 14 people from Cuba to the United States on July 3 – among them five children – charging 8,000 dollars per person.

The speedboat in which they attempted to make the trip had a capacity of just six to eight people. It capsized in the open seas, resulting in the death of Sergio Maurilio Martínez, age 45.

This was the first trial against smugglers of illegal emigrants after strict new laws were passed in February. The crime had not been included previously in the Cuban penal code.

The legal reforms call for life sentences in smuggling cases with aggravating circumstances, such as arms possession, the use of violence or intimidation, endangering the lives of others, or causing the injury or death of others.

The punishment is also more severe if the perpetrators are smuggling people under age 14, or if it is a repeat offence. Such was the case for Dorta, the boat’s pilot, who was accused of illegally entering the country several times.

Dorta and García’s legal defence has five workdays to present an appeal.

Another 26 Cuban residents of the United States are imprisoned in Cuba for similiar crimes, though committed prior to the legal changes earlier this year, said the official press.

Seven other people, also from the United States, are awaiting trial for smuggling illegal emigrants after the penal code reforms were enacted.

Fidel Castro’s government emphasised Tuesday that illegally smuggling emigrants from Cuba “responds to the interests of the anti-Cuban mafia which, from overseas, encourages illegal emigration and disorder.”

Such conduct constitutes an “absolute challenge to the existing migration agreements between Cuba and the United States, which defend a safe, legal and orderly exit (from the country),” said a government communique.

Those who violate the laws and the territorial waters, and who participate in any way in the trafficking of immigrants “will receive the corresponding sanctions for such serious acts, as this case has demonstrated,” warned the authorities.

The migration agreements signed by both countries in September 1994 and May 1994 establish that the United States will grant 20,000 visas per year to Cuban citizens and will repatriate illegal immigrants intercepted at sea. Cuba, meanwhile, may not punish their repatriated citizens.

After the penal code reforms, the Cuban government also increased the strict application of laws on ownership and operation of watercraft. Illegal use of the boats will mean heavy fines and property seizure for the boat owners.

Cuban authorities acknowledged in July, when they announced the new boat laws, that the number of people trying to emigrate illegally from the island had risen, but they said most of the boats used originated in the United States.

Castro later stated that his government will prevent a massive exodus at all costs, fearing it would mean an end to the bilateral migration agreements. The accords have been the only point of agreement between Havana and Washington in 40 years of hostility.

Among measures to discourage illegal emigration, Castro announced that the government is considering denying entry visas for the visiting families of any person that has tried to leave Cuba illegally after the 1995 Cuba-U.S. agreement.

“Those who travel legally will have the right to visit this country whenever they want,” said Castro in August. So far, illegal emigrants have had to wait a minimum of five years before being allowed to return to Cuba as visitors.