At least 19 of the Cubans who were retained for several days at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport, they were released and allowed to enter Serbian territory, several sources confirmed.
Another group of at least 8 people was repatriated on Wednesday, March 16, by air (by which they had arrived), with a stopover in the German city of Frankfurt.
“We communicated with the Ombudsman, an international institution that watches over people’s rights; they were informed and they were able to press for the conditions of detention, the overcrowding, the poor attention, the problem of access to translators… The crisis is passing, but it has been very chaotic and with a great lack of information”, expressed Fernando Almeyda, Legal Director of Prisoners Defenders and Cuban Human Rights lawyer residing in Serbia.
It is not clear if there are still Cubans being held in Belgrade from a group of at least 35 of which various sources reported. It is difficult to confirm the information due to the lack of communication and because they were kept in isolated groups from each other. It is probable that there would be not only Cubans; but also Tunisians and Turks, among other nationalities.
Apparently among the released Cubans could be F., who had not eaten food for more than five days in protest. In the last communications with him on the night of Wednesday March 15 and the morning of Thursday March 16, he said he was very weak and that it was difficult for him to drink water. Another of the Cubans confirmed that at the time they left it, F. was in very poor condition and required medical attention.
Serbia has recently eliminated the visa-free regime with several countries, such as Bolivia and Burundi. Some media have mentioned the possibility that the measure will soon be applied to Cubans; although so far there is no confirmation.
