Canadian Teen Held in Cuba, Foreign Affairs "Following the Case"

Canadian teen Cody LeCompte is being held in Cuba pending the outcome of an investigation into a traffic accident that took place while he and his mother were vacationing there with family members in May 2010. When he tried to board an airplane home at the end of his trip, airport officials would not let him leave the country. In all likelihood the 19-year-old youth will not be allowed to return to Canada for at least another month, and information supplied by foreign affairs suggests it could be a much longer wait. The traffic accident was caused by a dump truck that slammed into LeCompte's rental car at an intersection. He was seriously injured, leaving his mother worrying for a time if he would survive at all.

Mother Danette LeCompte has spent more than $12,000 paying for her son to stay at a Cuban resort, travelling between Canada and Cuba, and gathering the necessary documents for Cody's legal defence. Pleas to the Department of Foreign Affairs went unanswered for three weeks, and at the moment it appears they are not intervening. Spokesperson Dana Cryderman pointed to the fact that Canada's travel advisory does warn Canadians against driving in Cuba. She could not comment on the details of the case for reasons of privacy. "Canadian consular officials are following the case very closely with Cuban authorities," she offered.

"Traffic accidents are a frequent cause of arrest and detention of Canadians in Cuba. Accidents resulting in death or injury are treated as crimes, and the onus is on the driver to prove innocence," says Canada's travel advisory for Cuba. It further warns that drivers can be arrested pending court proceedings, and that insurance can be revoked if the driver is found to be in any way at fault for an accident. It is not uncommon for drivers to be detained for several months, or even a year while awaiting trial. Drivers can also be prevented from leaving Cuba until they have paid damages, which "can range into the thousands of U.S. dollars."

"My credit cards are maxed, my whole life's been turned upside down," Danette LeCompte says. "But all I care about is getting my son home."

Canadians have grown used to foreign affairs refrains of "privacy issues" and dealing with matters "diplomatically" in recent years. Calls for the Harper government to pick up the slack and address concerns of Canadians abroad more promptly are invariably met with reassurances that the department is "following the case closely." This has not stopped a number of Canadians from suffering while abroad in recent years.

A Toronto woman spent two months trapped in Nairobi, Kenya in the spring of 2009 after a customs official decided she didn't look enough like the photo on her Canadian passport. Suaad Hagi Mohamud provided several other forms of identification, and hired a lawyer to file a handful of affidavits with a federal court after Canadian officials handed Mohamud over to Kenyan police and had her arrested. She finally had to submit to a complex process involving DNA testing, when Canadian officials refused to use more conventional means to confirm her identity.

Thunder Bay, Ontario residents Cheryl Everall and Kimberly Kim were falsely accused by Mexican police of committing a double murder while in that country to celebrate the wedding of friends in 2006. The two women, "frustrated by federal inaction," launched a web site to proclaim their innocence and to ask public support for a petition to Prime Minister Harper asking for travel advisories that more accurately reflect the dangers of travelling to certain parts of Mexico.

Noah Kirkman was ten years old when Oregon police saw him out riding his bicycle without a helmet. They kept an eye on him during the summer of 2008, while he stayed with his stepfather. The man had his stepson's birth certificate and passport, and a signed letter of consent from the boy's mother for him to be caring for the child while she moved from Montreal to Calgary. Oregon police notified child welfare authorities after several incidents of mischief. Youth authorities in the state took custody of the child, and did not return him to family in Canada until two years had passed.

Nazia Quazi is a 24-year-old woman who, while travelling under a Canadian passport, was effectively kidnapped by her father in Saudi Arabia. Although neither is a citizen of the country, Quazi's father seems to have taken advantage of Saudi laws that give custody of any woman to her male relatives, in order to keep her away from a fiance he did not feel was suitable. He imprisoned his daughter in Saudi Arabia for three years, before taking her to Dubai to rejoin her fiance.

Quazi, a dual Canadian-Indian citizen, appealed to foreign affairs for help during her ordeal but her fiance felt the media attention was what finally convinced the young woman's father to let her go. "I guess he cannot handle it - his name being spoiled in the media," said Bjorn Singhal. Although Quazi's case attracted attention from government officials, foreign affairs stressed that Canada could not interfere with the application of laws in a foreign nation.

Sources:
"Cuba travel advice and advisories." Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

Jen Gerson, "Boy who was in foster care in U.S. returns to Calgary." Calgary Herald

John Goddard, "Woman held in Kenya gives up DNA samples." Toronto Star

Ottawa woman's Saudi Arabian ordeal ends." CBC News

Dan Robson, "Cuban legal limbo continues for Ontario teen ." Yahoo! Canada News, Canadian Press

"Women accused in Ianiero slayings start protest website. CBC News, Canadian Press