Cuban-trained Guyanese doctor Ruackel Easton has expressed concerns over the alleged inhumane treatment meted out to his fiancée and eight-month-old daughter, who are both Cuban nationals, at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago’s immigration officers.
Easton is demanding justice from the Trinidadian authorities for the alleged ‘disgraceful’ treatment his family had to endure while in-transit in that country from Cuba to Guyana.
He noted that his fiancée Laritza Ortiz and daughter Zaralinda Easton Ortiz arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on September 17 around 16: 30h and were made to wait for hours without being told why by immigration officials.
Easton said his wife told officers that she was going to Guyana to attend a wedding engagement and will return to Cuba on October 7.
After being told to wait for one hour, both Laritza, her eight-month-old baby, along with other Cubans were told they would be sent back to Cuba and were asked to fill out some immigration forms around 19:00h.
“Please note that all this time my eight-month-old child didn’t receive a glass of water or food even though the mother was offering money for someone to go buy it, they said that this is immigration and that can’t happen, more hours passed reaching around 22: 00h when they took them to customs and told them that their documents, including passports will be given back to them when they reached Cuba,” he added.
Easton said that they were told by the officials that Cubans are usually involved in illegal matters. He said about midnight, the officials took them to a hotel where they were locked in a room until morning.
He said too that their passports were not stamped by the immigration officials.
Easton added that his family was relieved only when Foreign Ministry Director General “Elisabeth Harper and Mr Beepat of Giftland Office Max” intervened. Easton and his family are demanding compensation of some sort and justice for the inhumane treatment they suffered.
