Jailed Cuban goes on hunger strike

Bridgetown.

Raul Garica has gone on a hunger strike at HMP Dodds in an attempt to force the Government to free  or deport him.

The 52 year old Cuban enter Barbados illegally entered in 1994 under the false name of Edilberto Munoz and claimed to be a citizen of Colombia.

He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug  trafficking and was released on March 11, 2010, for 15 minutes while officials of the Immigration Department tried to deport him to Cuba.

The strict Cuban laws do not allow him to go back there and Garica was returned to HMP Dodds. Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite comfirmed to Trakker News he had received a letter from HMP Dodds  indicating Garcia had stopped eating.

"It is not a simple case of just deporting him or releasing him, we are trying to find a solution to the matter, where the laws of Barbados are up help  and his rights as a human being are maintained at the same time", Brathwaite told Trakker News.

"I am sympathetic to his cause, we will try our best to have the situation resolved as soon as possibe", Brathwaite added.