A Cuban refugee crisis is brewing in Bermuda, according to the Opposition United Bermuda Party.

This week the UBP is claiming that a member of a Cuban youth jazz band defected to Canada as the group was making its way back to Havana last month.

Shadow Community Affairs Minister Louise Jackson cited “very reliable sources” when asked to substantiate her claims, but could not say exactly which of the young men had defected.

And she insists that Bermuda could find itself in a quandary should a Cuban decided to defect here.

Community Affairs Minister Dale Butler said he had no knowledge of any defection to Canada and that should any Cuban visiting Bermuda under the cultural exchange memorandum with the Caribbean country attempted to defect, the agreement would be suspended indefinitely.

“The very first one that attempts to defect here would suspend and possibly end the agreement,” he said.

Mr. Butler acknowledged, as he did during his written answers to Mrs. Jackson's original questions in Parliament, that international law would oblige Bermuda not to send someone back if there was proven to be a well founded fear of persecution.

But he poured cold water over the idea that a band member had defected in Canada saying that one of a number of rumours making the rounds about the visiting Cubans before they even arrived was that some of them would arrive pregnant, but they were all young men.

And the Minister revealed that the Cuban entourage had been provided with “first class security” to ensure they did not fall victims of a plot to discredit the Government.

“While they were here we had the best of security just in case people would actually tempt them to defect,” he said.

When asked who such “people” might be, Mr. Butler said: “Mrs. Jackson - all those people who were attempting to march on Parliament.

“We were afraid they might kidnap them or encourage them to defect to embarrass myself and the Government so we had first class security that didn't cost the country a penny. To ensure that they were not infiltrated by people with these ideas,” Mr. Butler said.

“Rumours abounded weeks before they came that they would be encouraged to defect and there were rumours that some of the band members were pregnant and all seven were male.

“Rumours that they would be kidnapped to embarrass me and the Government - and all of these things were fuelled by Mrs. Jackson's very negative attitude.”

He added that the group was asked if they wanted to stay on an extra week and they declined.

“They said ‘No. We came, we saw and now it's time to get back to our own country'. So I would say that her remarks are most unfortunate, untimely and it shows absolute ignorance on her part.”

Mrs. Jackson has been relentless in her criticism of Government's fostering links with Cuba - a campaign Mr. Butler dismissed yesterday as “a lot of ballyhoo.”

During Parliamentary Question Time on Friday, she posed a series of questions aimed at uncovering Government's position should it be faced with Cubans wishing to defect.

This week Mrs. Jackson accused Mr. Butler of “ducking” the questions - because they could only be answered in writing after question time expired - and reported that she had knowledge of a defector and had planned to grill Mr. Butler on the House of Assembly floor with follow up questions.

“Is the Minister aware that a member of the Havana Jazz Band who visited Bermuda this month has defected in Canada on his way to Cuba and what would this Government do had he defected in Bermuda ?” was one of her planned follow up questions.

“I think that the Minister knows about this and he can answer the question,” Mrs. Jackson said on Sunday. “He was ducking it and in fact the whole group ducked the questions. Parliamentary questions have to be answered before 11, so they just rattled on.”

Mr. Butler's response to that is that Mrs. Jackson could easily have challenged him during the motion to adjourn and he would have gladly dealt with her additional questions in detail.

“Such questions will not deter us from the good work we are doing and the foundations we are laying to improve sport and culture in this country...It takes time and a lot of patience but we're getting things done so things are going well.”

He added that his Ministry had written to the Cubans and specifically asked if the entire team had returned home.

“We asked if all members returned and they wrote back and said everything went well.”

Asked why she did not bring the matter up during the motion to adjourn, Mrs. Jackson said she was hoping for media exposure. “I think the public needs to know about this - nobody listens to the motion to adjourn.”

She said “thousands” of people had defected from Cuba and Bermuda was now vulnerable to a Cuban defector crisis because of the cultural exchange programme.

“If they can get out of it (Cuba) they would. And I don't know why the Minister seems to feel that they won't try to defect in Bermuda. My biggest thing is if one of these children defect here and they are sent back to Cuba, it's a well-known fact that not only will they be punished badly but their families too - everybody suffers. And I just need some answers on this. I'm pretty tired of them ducking on this.”

“Should anyone in the future attempt to defect here we would suspend the agreement and that person would be sent back home,” Mr. Butler said yesterday. “First of all I wouldn't be consorting with a dictator,” said Mrs. Jackson when asked what her solution would be.

“I mean the whole world has condemned Castro's dictatorship. The United Nations has condemned them but here we are cosying up to them You feel so sorry for the people but certainly we are not helping them if they defect here and are sent back.”

She noted that controversy had erupted in Grand Cayman last month when a group of Cubans attempted to defect there and the authorities came in for criticism from Grand Cayman residents for what they said was inhumane treatment of the refugees.

“So you've got to have a plan of what are you going to do if those people do decide to defect. What's our plan going to be?”

She said she disagreed with the cultural links and would “absolutely” tear it up if given the opportunity. “There are other ways to help people to freedom and cosying up to the Castro Government is definitely not the way to do it.”

Their trip here would have been an exposure to freedom and democracy, Mr. Butler said.

“I would say that from their position they left with a greater appreciation of what a truly free society is because they heard people criticising the Government on talk radio, they saw their country represented in the newspapers. Everyday Cuba was in the media.

“They got to visit the Premier and see how people freely approach him and so I would say it was a very healthy thing for a group of young musicians to be exposed to Bermuda's culture because we bent over backward to expose them to that and to expose them to a free and democratic society.”

And, answering another of Mrs. Jackson's follow up questions, Mr. Butler revealed that discussions had taken place through the Deputy Governor's office on what would happen should a Cuban attempt to defect in Bermuda. “That has already been looked at... I think according to the UN treaty you cannot send them back if it's proven that their grounds are legitimate.”

But he pointed out that “at least 50 Cubans” have visited Bermuda over the last three years and not one of them has defected. As to Mrs. Jackson's claims that would be defectors face a horrid fate if sent back home, Mr. Butler said he had no official information on that and challenged her to prove it.

“We have no proof of that - she would have to provide that proof - I haven't read anything about that. There are Cubans in Britain and there are Cubans in Canada and there are Cubans all over the world, and they all seem to go back home.”

Some 3,000 Bermudians saw performances by the Cuban National Youth Jazz Ensemble but press coverage was virtually non existent - a fact not missed by the Minister.

But he saved all his criticism for Mrs. Jackson.

“I have no comment, no criticisms about the media. The media did what they did and I have no criticisms we paid for our adverts and that's it,” he said. “We're not disappointed at all given Mrs. Jackson's continuous efforts to undermine this activity at all costs - without even asking me how many initiatives we intended to undertake. At the moment it's two - one which already took place and possibly after we get our financial statement together we are looking at sending some dance teachers,” the Minister continued.

“If we don't have the money, we don't go. We're not going to put the country in any type of debt.”

He added: “There's been a lot of ballyhoo, a lot of noise. I would say that she (Mrs. Jackson) is stewing a pot and she's the only victim inside that pot. She's stewing herself because it was overwhelmingly 100 percent positively received by Bermudians who have been calling and asking us to do even more.”

A full financial accounting on the Cuba cultural links would be given, he continued.

He added that many locals had been calling the Ministry to ask for assistance in getting involved with Cuba - either for marriage, business, home ownership or any number of factors. “We have not assisted any of them because it's not part of the memorandum.”