There may be many people unaware of the plight of Cody LeCompte. He is a 19 year old Ontario resident and citizen of Canada who is basically being held hostage in Cuba. He has been there for over a dozen weeks without being charged with a crime, yet. His mistake was to be driving a rental car that was broadsided by a dump truck. The accident was not his fault and the only injuries were to those in his vehicle.
The Cuban government has been stringing his mother along saying he could go home at such and such a time but he is still in Cuba, forced to remain at his resort at tremendous expense to his mother. To date, it has cost over $25,000 to keep him in Cuba and he has not received additional medical treatment required for his injuries since leaving the hospital.
His mother has been required to retain a Cuban lawyer who has advised them he could get a maximum sentence of one to three years in a Cuban prison. There seems to be no presumption of LeCompte’s innocence. Apparently, the Cuban government has already determined him to be guilty and yet he has not even been charged after what has now become months of detainment.
The Canadian consulate in Cuba has done nothing to help this unfortunate young man who is in need of medical care as a result of his injuries. Neither the government nor the opposition parties have helped this family.
In fact, it took three weeks for the Foreign Affairs office to return a call from LeCompte’s mother. If neither the Canadian Foreign Affairs office nor the Canadian consulate in Cuba can help a Canadian family in crisis, what exactly is their role when it comes to Canadians travel abroad.
It is shameful how loud some people in this country are demanding that Omar Khadr be brought home when he is a prisoner of a Canadian ally and democratic country. The United States has charged him with a crime and provided legal counsel.
There was help for Brenda Martin who was convicted of a crime in Mexico. She was brought home to Canada.
Why are these same people not hounding the government for LeCompte’s sake? It is time to demand some action from local MPs, cabinet ministers, the Prime Minister and Canadian authorities in Cuba to bring LeCompte home.
It is also time Canadians thought long and hard about where the spend their vacation time and money. Cuba has become a popular vacation spot for Canadians but maybe a loss of tourist income would send a strong message to the country that it cannot continue to allow a corrupt legal system to prey on innocent visitors to their country.