By Tuesday they were in detention in Nassau
Posted in General on 12. Aug, 2010
By Tuesday they were in detention in Nassau.For more than three years, US policy on Cuban “boatpeople” has been firm: they are repatriated unless they qualify for political asylum by demonstrating “well-grounded fear of persecution”. The Bahamas has a similar policy.Having failed to reach the Florida coast, Hernandez and the others were liable to be sent back Instead, the State Department went into overdrive. After almost four days, they were picked up by the US Coast Guard and handed over to the Bahamian authorities. But the boat started to take on water and they were forced to land on the remote Anguilla Cay on the fringe of the Bahamas. A former Cuban baseball star was cleared to enter America yesterday after escaping from Cuba by boat Five of his fellow passengers are unlikely to be so lucky. Mary Dejevsky asks if the US operates double standards when offering asylum to Cubans.
Few would argue that Orlando Hernandez did not constitute a special case. “El Duque” (the Duke), was a star pitcher for Cuba’s national baseball team, one of Cuba’s elite. But that came to an end two years ago, when his younger brother, Livan, also a baseball star, defected to the United States.
While Livan rose to stardom in his adopted country, helping the outsiders, the Florida Marlins, to victory in the 1997 World Series, Orlando was banned from his national team, harassed by officials and blamed for his brother’s escape.Early on 26 December, Orlando, his girlfriend, Noris Bosch, and six others left Cuba in a small sailing boat, hoping to reach Florida. Pol Pot was said to have escaped with assistance from China, though the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh denied the reports and government officials dismissed them as propaganda from opposition forces.
The pro-government newspaper Koh Santepheap said Pol Pot had escaped from the rebels’ jungle base of Anlong Veng. The newspaper said the Khmer Rouge defence chief Ta Mok had met Chinese diplomats at about the time of the escape. The opposition newspaper Udom Kateak said the Chinese wanted Pol Pot to avoid trial because they had backed his 1975-79 “killing fields” regime.Reuters, Phnom Penh.
The infamous Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has escaped from Cambodia to avoid facing an international court for his crimes against humanity, Cambodian newspapers said yesterday. New voting had to be called three years early after the Congress Party withdrew support from the governing United Front coalition, accusing one of its members of supporting Sri Lankan guerrillas linked to the 1991 assassination of Congress leader and former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi.AP, New Delhi. The BJP was to launch its campaign later yesterday with a rally in Bombay.
No party won a majority in the last elections in May 1996, and ideological differences and competing ambitions kept the main blocs from working together. Early opinion surveys have indicated the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will win the most seats, though no party is expected to get a majority. India will hold elections over four days beginning 16 February, the chief election commissioner said yesterday. His departure would tilt the balance to the right and highlight the question mark against Mr Netanyahu’s capacity to push through the “generous” evacuation that both the Americans and Palestinians are demanding.. Mr Levy had demanded that the government invest in a recovery programme for the depressed areas.