By Betty Vedrine, Guardian Senior Reporter, betty@nasguard.com

Relatives of a Bahamian who is incarcerated in Cuba are accusing the Cuban government of discrimination against Bahamians jailed in Cuba. According to the family of one of the inmates, other foreigners who are serving 20 to 30-year sentences are being released in a shorter time frame than their Bahamian counterparts, who have been imprisoned for similar charges.

"There are other nationalities serving time in Cuba and being released after a couple of years. Bahamians on the other hand are serving the full-time so this is not fair," one relative alleged.

But Bahamian Ambassador to Cuba, Carlton Wright said that this may not be the case. "We don't know the circumstances of those other countries and the relationship that they may have with Cuba, so it wouldn't be a fair conclusion," he explained.

A Bahamian who was just recently released from a Cuban jail disagrees. "I just got out of Cuba after serving nine years in prison, for a crime that I didn't even commit, and even though they (Cubans) treated us all fairly with regard to accommodations and other amenities, we believe that Bahamians are unfairly treated when it comes to serving the actual jail time," said the man who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

According to Wright, this has been a point of contention for Bahamian prisoners in Cuban jails, but that country's laws related to drug trafficking are different from those in The Bahamas. He feels that Bahamians must keep that in mind.

"I don't know why they would want to say that Cubans are discriminating against Bahamian prisoners. Cuba has laws that govern how they treat drug offenses and we have no jurisdiction over that," he said yesterday during a phone interview.

Wright explained that Cuba has harsher penalties for drug offenses when compared to The Bahamas. "In terms of drugs, Cuba is very harsh with these types of offenses. They don't want it (drugs) in their country so every effort is made to discourage it. That's their penal code. We have to respect that."

Wright said to prove this point, recently a Bahamian was caught with just 211 grams of marijuana (less than a half pound) and he was sentenced to 20 years. "That's how seriously they take this offense," he said. "In fact, in some countries, a person can be executed for drug offenses."

Another point that was raised by the incarcerated man's family is that even when Bahamians are transferred to The Bahamas, after serving a few years in Cuba, they still have to serve longer sentences than their Bahamian counterparts charged in The Bahamas.

"The maximum sentence for any drug offense in The Bahamas is five years. So I can't understand why a person who has already served a number of years in Cuba still has to serve the full amount of time if our law is five years max."

But to this Wright replies that even though that has been an area of concern by Bahamians, it's part of an agreement signed between the two countries. "We have an agreement called the transfer of sentenced persons agreement, which allows a Bahamian to serve a third of a prison sentence in Cuba, and then that person can be transferred to The Bahamas to complete the rest of the sentence. That person would then be expelled from Cuba and will never be able to return. But that is discretionary," explained Wright. With this agreement, the person would serve a third of their sentence in Cuba and the remainder in The Bahamas, which in many cases passes the five year maximum sentence for drug offenses in The Bahamas.

The Guardian made several attempts to reach Minister of State for Legal Affairs, T. Desmond Bannister and Attorney General, Claire Hepburn for further clarification, but was unsuccessful up to press time.