Cuban Ambassador to The Bahamas Ernesto Soberon Guzman said yesterday he has seen the video purported to show Cuban detainees at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre being beaten by Bahamian officers, but would not make a judgment about its authenticity.

Guzman said Cuban detainees continue to express concern about the living conditions at the facility. But he said they have not reported anything else of significance.

 "I cannot tell you if the video is true or not," Guzman said.

 "I was in the detention center at the beginning of this month. I think it was on June 5.

"I had the opportunity to speak to the Cuban persons there, most of them, and no one told me about this video.

 "...I hope to be back in the detention center in the coming days. I am just waiting to start a new repatriation process for some Cubans that are there right now and I will see the situation."

 Asked whether Cuban authorities will conduct a separate investigation, Guzman said, "We will talk with the Bahamian authorities of course, but I have to speak to them before because I cannot say if this is true or not."

 The video was aired by South Florida Spanish language station America Noticia 5. Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said on Monday the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Defence Force examined the video.

Both organizations reported it appeared to be staged; the accent of the person purported to be a Bahamian law enforcement officer is not Bahamian; no faces were shown, and the interior of the building does not appear to be the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, he said.

 In that video, several men are seen tied up, lying on the ground, wearing nothing but underwear and apparently being verbally and physically abused by officers. Mitchell said the news station should be ashamed of itself.

 "You have a television station that I gather has some support in South Florida that is peddling this nonsense, defaming this country, so we have a responsibility to denounce it," Mitchell said yesterday.

Calls placed to the news stations were not returned. The matter has been referred to the government's attorneys, according to Mitchell. He said legal action could ensue if the proper redress does not come from the television station. Mitchell said the acting consul general in Miami reported a demonstration was planned in Miami, which further suggests the video was "staged for whatever their ends are".

He said The Bahamas adheres to all human rights conventions and detainees are not beaten in the detention center. Mitchell also said the conditions at the facility are adequate.

 A full investigation has been launched, which will also seek to determine the source of the video, according to Mitchell. He also said the Ministry of Tourism was briefed to counteract the negative impact of the report. "My judgment about the American people is that they know silliness when they see it," Mitchell said.

"The problem is that you have silly people who can get inflamed by stuff that is inaccurate. "We have an obligation, insofar as we can, to ensure that the correct information is put [out there] and the proper image of our country."

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