Over 150 Cuban Migrants Stage Hunger Strike, Threatening to Force the Hands of Officials

Cuban migrants housed at the Bahamas Department of Corrections have stopped eating.

After one week at the facility, 152 migrants are demanding to be confined elsewhere, routinely at the Bahamas Department of Corrections.

Hurls of insults in Spanish are echoed down the hall as they beat the prison gates and throw their clothing out of the cells into the corridors.

Officers familiar with the situation said the group should not have been placed at the facility and is protesting to get the attention of officials.

It is reported prison officials have been trying to get immigration officials to visit the group but as of Thursday afternoon, no one from the Department had arrived.

Of the group, six men are confined to a cell and most are reported to be former marines from the communist island nation where they escaped economic and political woes, worsened by tightened U.S. sanctions and negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic— food shortages and inflation.

Prison officers fear the group may use its tactical skills on guards so attempts were made to keep the men in their cells.

A father and three adult sons are reported to be among the group.

Some have reportedly collapsed after refusing the food offered food by prison staff.

A man in the group translates their demands from Spanish to English.

In recent weeks, the Bahamas has seen a significant influx of Cuban migrants.