Cuban asylum seekers to go on trial in August

CUBAN asylum seekers have found another place to stay until they go on trial for the wilful obstruction of the pavement outside the United Nations building in Port of Spain in December.

The group returned to the Port of Spain Third Magistrates Court on Monday, when their attorney Christophe Rodriquez informed Magistrate Rehanna Ali that they had found a new accommodation while in Trinidad.

The group will be staying at a residence in Petit Valley until their trial which has been set for August 3.

The eight Cubans, who are seeking asylum in the United States, were, last month, each granted $5,000 bail by the magistrate who also ordered that they not leave the house in St Joseph where they had been staying for the last 28 days.

The house at Market Street was being paid for by the Living Water Community only until today and as a result they were forced to find a new place to stay, which they did.

Yaneisy Santana Hurtado, 37, Ramon Arbolaez Abreu, 43, Ailys Arbolaez Santana, 18, Yusnes Reyes Santana, 20, Gladys Lisandra Perez Molina, 22, Lisandra Farray Rodriquez, 29, Pedro Santana Maceo and Yuriet Pedrozo Gonzales, 30, will return to court for their trial.

The eight were part of a larger group of 18 Cubans, including three children, who slept outside the UN Office off Chancery Lane while they go through the process of seeking resettlement in the US as political refugees.

They are charged with violating section 64(1) (n) of the Summary Offences Act, which imposes a $200 fine and a month’s imprisonment on anyone who in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage of any street.

The three children remain in the care of the Children’s Authority.

The accused Cubans said they fled Cuba because they had been persecuted for “being peaceful opponents to the totalitarian regime of the Castro brothers.”