MSG063G/01E U.S.-CUBA: Boat People Cost Taxpayers 65 Million Dollars
PANAMA, Nov 08 (IPS) - Colonel Richard Holihan of the U.S. Southern Command in Panama said Tuesday that keeping the 10,000 Cuban boat people brought to Panama from the Guantanamo base in Cuba will cost U.S. taxpayers nearly 65 million dollars.
Holihan said that since the end of August, when the army began building the refugee camps in the Panama Canal zone, over 34 million dollars had been spent on materials and transportation of the Cuban internees.
Four camps, each holding 2,500 people, were built in the "Empire Range" area on the eastern bank of the canal.
The Colonel explained that equipping the camps and providing food, medical care, clothing and security for the refugees would cost some five million dollars a month during the Cubans' six-month stay.
In addition to the 100 U.S. military personnel assigned to guard the Cubans, 336 Panamanian civilians have been contracted for support services.
The cost of their care has done little to impress the boat people, however, as they accuse the government of the United States of imprisoning and abandoning them after encouraging them to emigrate.
Protests in "Empire Range" have included hunger strikes, rebellions, attacks on guards, massive escape attempts, and partial destruction of the perimeter fences.
An association representing the 33 thousand refugees in Panama and Guantanamo called on Washington to implement the 1967 "Cuban Adjustment Act," which grants permanent residence to any Cuban reaching a U.S. Border Post.
However, the refugees on the U.S. military bases are not legally entitled to residence, as they were intercepted at sea and transferred to territory in U.S. possessions beyond congressional jurisdiction, and never actually reached the U.S. border.
© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service