est. 2007

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Free Raul ‘Coronell’ Garcia, The Man With No Country

BU was asked by the family to publish the following message  extracted from the Free Raul ‘Coronell’ Garcia!! The man with no country Facebook Page to highlight the plight of Edilberto Coronell Munoz: – “Today makes 25 days that my uncle Raul Garcia is on a hunger strike at Dodd’s Prison, where they recently placed…

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Raul Garcia

BU was asked by the family to publish the following message  extracted from the Free Raul ‘Coronell’ Garcia!! The man with no country Facebook Page to highlight the plight of Edilberto Coronell Munoz: – “Today makes 25 days that my uncle Raul Garcia is on a hunger strike at Dodd’s Prison, where they recently placed him into solitary confinement e to the strike. I’m including a few links that tell the story” – Juan Garcia Jr

This is message from my aunt (his sister) and his current condition! My name is Elena Trillas and I am Raul Garcia’s sister. As of today, January 30, 2012 my brother has lost 22 pounds. He is beginning to sound weak and hopeless. To make matters worse the jail as decided to send him to solitary has punishment for his hunger strike. I will no longer be able to speak to him.

WHY THE HATRED TOWARDS MY BROTHER??? He paid his debt to society. He is no longer a criminal but an immigration detainee. Why throw him in a maximum prison and punish him because he is fighting for the freedom that he earned. People of Barbados, does it not scare you that the application of laws depend on the individual?

I know that my brother is not from Barbados. But despite being in jail for all these years he has done nothing but shed positive light on this country through his art. He has represented the island with an art display in New York. He’s won awards and all with paintings of BARBADOS. Of your beautiful landscapes and your beautiful people!!! He believed in the system. He believed in Barbados. No one is asking for anything other than what he has earned.

WE NEED SOMEONE TO LISTEN!! WE NEED SOMEONE TO HELP US OR HE WILL DIE…

Related Link: Miami man vows hunger strike until his death for his freedom in Barbados

143 responses to “Free Raul ‘Coronell’ Garcia, The Man With No Country”

  1. peltdownman Avatar
    peltdownman

    Where’s Chavez when you need him?

  2. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    “Cuba rejects international criticism of dissident’s death ”

    (HAVANA) – Cuba rejected international criticism of the death of an imprisoned dissident after a hunger strike, saying its critics in Spain, the European Union and the United States did not have “the least authority to judge Cuba.”

    Wilmar Villar, 31, died on Thursday in Santiago, Cuba after a 50-day hunger strike to protest his imprisonment. He was the second dissident to die in Cuba after going on a hunger strike in less than two years

    http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/cuba-politics.eok

  3. Random Thoughts Avatar
    Random Thoughts

    Quoting Legalese “It is beyond my limited comprehension how a country can ” disown ” its native son”

    Don’t you remember the Bajan mother who came to a hospital outside of which her drug dealing son lay dying, looked and him commented that she had spoken to him multiple times about his evil ways and turned and went home.

    Sometimes even a mother in whose belly a child has rolled has to disown.

    Not that I agree with Cuba in this instance. But clearly inf Cuba is allowing politicalprisiooners to die in Cuba they won’t soon come to rescue this convicted drug dealer.

    In fact if he had done in Cuba what he has done in Barbados the Cubans may long have executed him.

    After 17 years in Barbados he is yet alive and until his recent self-imposed hunger strike in good health.

    Barbados can’t be that bad.

    Prisoners in Barbados rarely die in custody, except those who die of old age, or from a pre-existing disease. The suicide rate of Barbados prosoners is likely lower than the suicide rate of the free population in most countries.

  4. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Nonsense. Send him back to where he came from before arriving in Barbados. If he has people who admit being related to him, then let them come and get him. If he has a Cuban passport, then off to Havana.
    People must respect the integrity of our territoriality. We must not allow misguided people to degrade our citizenship and generosity in allowing right of residence.

    Hal Austin

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Are we agreed that Barbados is prepared to deal with the fallout from the death of Garcia should he continue his hunger strike.

  6. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    I love Barbados.

    I have been living and working in Canada for the last 40 years knowing that I will always be able to return to where my navel string is buried.

  7. mystified Avatar
    mystified

    @ Frank Garcia. Why are you and your relatives trying to make B arbados the bad ones in this scenario. Barbados does not want to keep your uncle, we would very like to have him leave our shores. By his hunger strike he is still showing his criminal tendancies because he wants to force a situation where he is allowed to break the laws of yet another country. Why don’t you and your relatives spend your time trying to get him to Cuba, or the USA or Colombia. He claims he is a citizen of all three. Your uncle is safe, clean, exercised and fed until he chose to go on a hunger strike for a situation which is of his own making. Tell him to stop the hunger strike if he really wants to leave this country. Barbados is not to blame for his situation, and if you want the support of this country, it would be to you, your family’s and your uncle’s benefit to change that tune. It does nothing to help him.

  8. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ hants
    I will always be able to return to where my navel string is buried.

    You sure? You better hope things CHANGE soon or you aint go have nuttin to come back to

  9. David Avatar
    David

    Yes Barbados is not to blame but it is ours to solve. Let us agree that this man committed a crime for which he has done the time. It means that he under normal circumstances should be given a chance to live his life unencumbered by his criminal past. The man only went on hunger strike after several months of being ‘free’.

    We cannot treat this matter as a ‘normal’ issue, it is unprecedented and our policymakers have to rise to the challenge of what the situation demands. As a sovereign country we can decide what we want to do and DO it!

  10. St George's Dragon Avatar
    St George’s Dragon

    As Barbados is meant to be a Christian country, I thought this might be appropriate reading for those who say Raul Garcia should be left to die:
    Matthew 25:41-45
    Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.’

  11. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    St George’s Dragon

    I notice that you are quoting scripture. Remember even the Devil quotes scripture when it suits him.

  12. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    All the Govt. has to do is to force feed him as is done in Guantanamo Bay.
    Strap him down and put the drips in his hands. This way he will live to a ripe old age, not that he deserves to.

    However For my part I would wish him all the best in his current endeavor.

  13. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David | February 8, 2012 at 12:04 PM |
    “We cannot treat this matter as a ‘normal’ issue, it is unprecedented and our policymakers have to rise to the challenge of what the situation demands. As a sovereign country we can decide what we want to do and DO it!”
    Now this is one of the tests of LEADERSHIP. Do we have it?
    Last time Bim was faced with such a “challenge” was the Cubana airplane bombing that ended in total disaster off the West Coast in 1976.
    Do we have the mettle of leadership to handle a much simpler situation?

  14. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    The man is in good health, Barbadians have nothing to worry about, saith the Attorney General , (Dr) Adriel Brathwaite.
    Funny, but similar words were said of the islands economy .

  15. mason Avatar
    mason

    seems like some ppl want barbados government to give this man an nhc unit and some pension. if government lets him go free in barbados what next? barbados tax dollars have fed, clothed and nursed this man for 15 years. now u want them to let him go to be a further burden?

    he left cuba at age 10 to live illegally in the us for so long why shud the US accept him?

    he left cuba at age 10 to live illegally in the us for so long why shud cuba accept him?

    seems to me that all this guy knew was how to do things illegally. now what? we are supposed to take the blame becuz no one will take him and we cant let him go until somewhere does?

    he decided to stop eating we (barbados) didnt decide to stop feeding him.

    wow we cant find a solution to his f’ ups fast enough so he is protesting?

    maybe he would rather serve time in cuban jails, i hear they are very friendly and accomodating to cuban dissidents.

  16. balance Avatar
    balance

    i cannot understand how commissiong can have the gall to say that a man born in a country and denied entry to the land of his birth is not the responsibility of the country where he was born.

  17. de hood Avatar
    de hood

    Let me assure you if Mr. Garcia continues his refusal of food then he WILL die. It takes us a “year and a day” to get anything done in Barbados under “normal” circumstances. Ah lie? Now, look at the statement by the AG and decipher what he is saying. I understand him to be saying………”that there is no great hurry to do anything at the moment, the man is doing fine, we have nuff time to act so big deal, and what if he starves himself to death!”. . . . . . Wuh gine ‘appen after dah? Uncle Sam (Obama) gine send de airforce down hey and bomb we? Nuhbuddy gine tell we in Bim wuh we is tuh do, we is we own soverin’ nation, aint we?
    Friends, I would suggest that if Mr. Garcia really wishes to be free again one day his best choice would be to eat in order to survive and then continue his efforts to convince some country to accept him. Whether it be Barbados or where ever. Barbados can offer him refugee status, I am guessing, or let him claim residence from some humanitarian point of view. Again that is only me making a guess. However, I would not like to take any bets (if I was a betting man) on his survival if he tries to test this government further. He needs to start eating again so that he could make a case for himself. Remember, according to Dr. GP, dead men are only PLANTED. Full stop!

  18. Random Thoughts Avatar
    Random Thoughts

    If the government is going to be sharing out NHC units and early pensions can I have mine right away please.

  19. de hood Avatar
    de hood

    @ David

    Hi Dave,
    I seem to be unable to link to this particular blog from BU’s main page. I had to get here in a roundabout way through another listing.
    I don’t know if the problem is from my end or yours but I just wanted to let you know just in case.

  20. de hood Avatar
    de hood

    @ David

    Ok ignore my last comment above. Everything seems to be okay again.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    The following application to the Court in 2009 maybe of interest:

    http://www.lawcourts.gov.bb/Lawlibrary/events.asp?id=728

  22. Jay Avatar
    Jay

    After reading the comments one should strongly consider the reasons why this is going on based on the facts and they all lie within the law as many have mentioned.

    -Any US embassy will not allow him to return to the US because he has violated his Permanent residency on several accounts concerning “Good Moral Character”.Drug Trafficking charges are a Permanent bar to immigration benefits in the US and thus he can NOT be claimed to be a Permanent resident.The second reason is that if not given permission to be outside the US more than 1 year you also automatically lose Permanent residency due to “Abandonment”.The Department of State is HIGHLY UNLIKELY to approve any waiver for this individual considering the trafficking charge thus he can never return to the US ! If he was a US citizen he would certainly be allowed to return to the US !

    -It is quite apparent that Cuba has very strict exit visa policy with regards to its Cuban citizens.Many Communist countries have similar laws like China or Russia but don’t technically lose their Citizenship due to these certain circumstances making Cuba quite the most extreme in this situation with regards to one losing citizenship.He lost his Cuban citizenship status when he gained US asylum as his exit was not approved by the Cuban Government or he was out of Cuba over the exit approved time period.

    -Under Barbados Immigration laws since he is not a Citizenship he will be permanently deported and AFAIK is ineligible for any status whatsoever due to not meeting what is called “CHARACTER” grounds.He won’t be released into the Barbados community unless he has status and considering he is ineligible due to drug trafficking he will remain detained !

    -I would HIGHLY suggest to the Barbados Government to seek Interpols help on seeing what citizenship he holds through his Fingerprints and seek to repatriate him to a country of citizenship he holds currently or release him with a work permit to support himself on a humanitarian basis.The US actually does this quite frequently to people it cannot remove due to Citizenship issues lacking in the country of removal with the condition they report with a period of time to the authorities or wearing an ankle bracelet with report in conditions until the person in question can be removed.

  23. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    I have been reliably informed that the Barbados Government views Mr. Garcia as a security risk. In their words “Mr. Garcia is unfinished business …!” and their are fearful that when this “business” is executed (literally and figuratively) that Barbadian citizens will be caught in the cross fire. Truthfully Mr. Garcia is safe while behind bars, but it is the potential for “collateral damage” that is behind the decision to keep him there. This will soon be made public….!

  24. de hood Avatar
    de hood

    http://www.lawcourts.gov.bb/Lawlibrary/events.asp?id=728
    @ David,

    If a precedent has been set here in Barbados with a very similar case, according to the information given in the link above which you supplied for us, then what are the authorities waiting on? All that is needed according to that judgement given by a judge in Barbados is to identify someone in Barbados to whom Mr. Garcia should be released and allow him to leave HMP Dodds. Ah lie?

  25. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @de hood,

    Is there anyone in Barbados who is willing to support Mr.Garcia indefinitely ?

    What if no other country will take him ?

  26. de hood Avatar
    de hood

    @Hants | February 13, 2012 at 10:03 PM

    Hasn’t it been clearly stated that Mr. Garcia would be self-sufficient (more so than a lot of born bajans!) with income from his arts and craft and further support from his relatives (more fores for Barbados 🙂 )

  27. de hood Avatar
    de hood

    correction. . . . .fores= forex

  28. ac Avatar
    ac

    but does the laws of barbados permits a convicted crimnal to become legalised resident . this guys seem to be tied up in knots .or something similiar to a rubics cube!

  29. Legalese. Avatar
    Legalese.

    @ David.
    I was quite surprised to hear one of our Attorneys-at-Law, Mr Douglas Trotman suggest to Mr David Commissiong on Sunday during the discussion on VOB’s Brass Tacks that the case provided by the link should provide a precedent for rendering assistance in the Garcia case, since there are major distinguishing features in the two cases. For example, the applicant in the case given entered Barbados as a VISITOR and was given permission to remain for a period and was then given an extension. His problem came when he decided to work illegally. The next important feature was that the defendants in the case did not file affidavits in response; that is tantamount to throwing in the towel and not raising a defence . In addition there was no allegation that the applicant was in any way a danger to the state. None of the above is applicable to the Garcia case. He was arrested and convicted for drug offences ; he served a twenty year sentence and the Chief Immigration Officer has issued a deportation order. It is highly unlikely that if an application were filed on his behalf it would go undefended as in the case above. In addition it would be reasonable for the Chief Immigration Officer to aver that he is a danger to the State . These considerations would certainly prevent a court from acting in the same manner as it did in the case quoted in the link.

  30. balance Avatar
    balance

    i have been critical of mr commissiong in this forum because i just cannot understand how or why a man who speaks so passionately on human rights issues can continue to turn a blind eye to the inhibitions of freedom imposed on the cuban people as descibed in the fair and balance article by cuban mr jorge garcia published in the sunday sun of 12th february.give me all the free health, free education and take away my freedom to articulate or move when i like i am but nothing. mr commissiong i would never be able to take you seriously until you begin to speak on the injustices perpetrated on the backs of the majority of the cuban people the majority of whom work for the equivalent of less than 11us per month in order to provide the wherwithal to export doctors and nurses to other countries and provide scholarships all of which serve to boost the image of the power elite of the cuban regime.

  31. David Avatar
    David

    @de hood

    The reality here is that to do anything for the gentleman our laws have to be changed. It appears the government is reluctant to do so. Until the law changes he will have to remain at Dodds.

  32. de hood Avatar
    de hood

    @ David
    I am wondering if you should not bring this blog forward for a little while longer, David?

  33. balance Avatar
    balance

    mr commissiong you are not short of words when it comes to bashing the policies of the usa, i plead with you to respond and show me where i am misguided in my comments that it is inhuman and repressive for cuba to deny entry to citizens of cuba born in cuba.

  34. balance Avatar
    balance

    i am still waiting to hear from mr commissiong or is he studiously researching his response to spew on an unsuspecting public who are only fed platitudes about the much touted free health, free education and the export of nurses and doctors to poor counties; but mr commissiong we have that too in the barbados you are free to criticise so often from time to time.
    however, i do agree that mr garcia should be released from prison into the care of mr harry collymore of dunlowlane as mandated by the court decison handed down by justice crane-scott on 31st august, 2009.

  35. balance Avatar
    balance

    i just observe in todays nation mr comissdiong speaking about having mr garcia housed in a non-punitive facility. why is he pursuing this course when there is an unchallenged court order/decision authorising the release to a mr harry collymore of dunlowlane. has the court order been rescinded?you mean there is no respect for decisions of the corts now by those sworn to uphold the law?

  36. David Avatar
    David

    @balance

    You need to reread the order using your best comprehension skills.

  37. An Observer.. Avatar
    An Observer..

    @ balance

    Can you not see the dissimilarity between these two cases ?

  38. ac Avatar
    ac

    it is good to see that Raul would eventually be housed outside of the prison walls. however the remaining puzzle is still to be resolved and if barbados does not find a place of residence for him should it be incumbent for barbados to release him. being a convicted criminal and not a citizen of barbados .barbados must tread cautiously because this can set a precedent for other convicts to follow.

  39. balance Avatar
    balance

    david and observer- please point me in the right direction.i genuinely want to know.

  40. balance Avatar
    balance

    observer which two cases ? perhaps i am missing something.

  41. An Observer.. Avatar
    An Observer..

    @ balance
    I admire your forthrightness ; we may all benefit from another view that can put us on track from time to time.
    The Applicant in the link case WAS GIVEN STATUS as a visitor to Barbados by the Chief Immigration Officer . That status DID NOT permit him to work here WITHOUT a work permit. He breached the provisions of his status BY WORKING ILLEGALLY. That was the act of indiscretion which caused the Chief Immigration Officer to REVOKE his visitor status and issue a deportation order. This factually AND legally presents a far different situation from Garcia’s position. HE NEVER ACQUIRED VISITOR STATUS; he was arrested on his arrival , imprisoned, convicted and sentenced to twenty years in prison for drug-related offences .
    I believe this is a large enough chunk of the facts to put you on track and provide for a better analysis of the two cases.

  42. An Observer.. Avatar
    An Observer..

    @ balance.
    The ” link case ” was provided by David in a posting on 12 February 2012 at 1:53 pm .

  43. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    And no one is pressuring good ole Great Britain.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246108/400-000-rapist-deport-Somali-criminal-prison-YEARS-completing-sentence.html

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