Cuba: Information on whether it is possible for police officers to exit Cuba legally, and on the treatment of police officers who exit the country illegally and later return

Information on travel restrictions specific to police officers could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. However, the followin may be of interest.

Country Reports 1994 (1995, 371-72) and the Human Rights World Watch Report 1995 (1995, 85-87) refer to 1994 changes in travel and return policies in Cuba. Country Reports 1994 states that "the Government allows the majority of persons who qualify for immigrant visas or refugee status to leave the country" (1995, 371). However, the report adds that some exit permits are delayed or denied without explanation, while permission is refused to others because the government "considers their cases sensitive for political or state security reasons" (ibid.).

The same source reports that in August 1994 the Cuban government temporarily suspended a standing policy on unauthorized departures and allowed some 30,000 people to leave by sea (ibid., 372). After the policy was reinstated in September of the same year, the Cuban government "agreed to use mainly persuasive methods to prevent unsafe departures" and "criminal penalties for such departures were not reimposed" (ibid.). The Cuban government also agreed to accept the voluntary return of a number of Cubans who had left the country illegally (ibid.). For more information on the 1994 United States-Cuba immigration agreement, please refer to Response to Information Request CUB18486.E of 23 September 1994 and its attachments, available at your Regional Documentation Centre.

Previous Responses to Information Requests provide information on the criteria that could be applied in the assessment of individual cases. For example, Response to Information Request CUB14544 of 10 June 1993 refers to the reported lack of prosecution for attempts at leaving or staying abroad, the legal provisions on this matter, and comments on charges that could be laid against a person. CUB17171.E refers to the formal requirements for travel abroad, with additional comments similar to those contained in CUB14544.

The Human Rights Watch World Report 1995 states that the "use of violence, intimidation or force while attempting to leave the country", "organizing, promoting or inciting illegal exit" and "lending material aid or information facilitating illegal exit" all could affect the treatment of persons who attempt to leave illegally (1995, 85-86).

Response to Information Request CUB17241.E of 3 May 1994 refers to the possible situation faced by returnees who were involved in dissident activities while abroad. Response to Information Request CUB19749.E of 9 June 1995 contains a brief reference to the situation of those who returned to Cuba as part of the 1994 immigration agreement mentioned above.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below a list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 1995. Human Rights Watch World Report 1995. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Additional Sources Consulted

Current History [Philadelphia]. Monthly.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Latin America Daily Report. Daily.

Human Rights Watch/Americas [New York]. Monthly.

Immigration and Nationality: Law and Practice [London]. Quarterly. Tolley Publishing Company.

Keesing's Record of World Events. Yearly. Edited by Roger East. London: Longman.

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. Weekly.

Latin American Regional Reports: Central America & the Caribbean [London]. Monthly.

Latin American Weekly Report [London]. Weekly.

Problèmes d'Amérique latine. Quarterly.

Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.

Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to the appropriate region.

On-line searches of news articles.

Note on oral sources:

Oral sources are usually contacted when documentary sources have been exhausted. However, oral sources must agree to be quoted in a publicly available Response to Information Request. If they refuse, the Response will read "no information currently available." Contacting oral sources is also subject to time constraints; for example, there are periods of the year when academics are unavailable.

Note on contacting foreign diplomatic representatives in Canada:

Embassies and high commissions are not usually called for security-related questions such as location of military bases or the functioning of secret services. Ability to obtain information from diplomatic representatives depends on availability of information and cooperation from individual countries.

Note on contacting Canadian diplomatic representatives serving abroad:

The DIRB must go through the CIC's International Services Group in order to ask questions of Canadian diplomatic representatives serving abroad. The procedures for contacting Canadian missions will cause delays in responding to Information Requests. Moreover, ability to obtain information is subject to Canadian missions' resource limitations.

Note:

        This list is not exhaustive. Country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not included.