Three Cubans Fined in St James Court After Months of Illegal Work

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Three Cuban nationals who reached Jamaica by boat and laboured in the west of the island for months without ever reporting to immigration were fined last Wednesday and told they must leave the country. Esequiel Henvandez Hernandez, Alfredo Castro Pupo, and Oslani Kennieryero Torrez stood before Judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton in the St James Parish Court on a charge of illegal entry.

Prosecutors said the men came ashore by vessel on October 28, 2024, on the coastline at Lilliput. They stayed in that area for five days, then secured employment in Coral Spring and worked there for four months. They eventually moved on to Coral Gardens, where they kept working with a construction firm until police detained them on May 8.

The case outlined that none of the three tried to reach immigration officials and that they had signalled no wish to do so. Officers were shown Cuban identity papers at the time of arrest to establish where they were from. With a translator assisting, the allegations were explained to each defendant; all three admitted guilt.

Judge Fairclough-Hylton ordered each man to pay a fine of $5,000 or serve five days in custody, and she also made a removal order against them.