MP champions 19-year-old trapped in Cuba:
The federal government is under heavy fire from political opponents and Canadians for its inability to bring home Cody LeCompte, the 19-year-old stranded in Cuba. Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who serves as the party’s consular affairs critic, said Monday the Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government could be doing more to end the nightmare the Simcoe teen and his family have endured for more than three months now.
“There’s a lot at stake here,” McTeague told The Sun. “Not just for this young man and his family, but for both Canada and Cuba.” He said it’s in the best interests of both countries to resolve the issue before the relationship is “strained.”
McTeague pointed out Cuba has more visitors from Canada than from any other country. “This concerns Canadians, so our officials should be concerned and Cuban officials should be concerned,” he said. Cody and his mom, Danette, claim that while they have heard from Canadian officials every few days since their accident in a rental car Apr. 29, they have yet to have anyone visit them in person. McTeague said someone should be meeting “face to face” with the LeComptes regularly.
If he were the foreign affairs minister, McTeague said he’d call the Cuban embassy, every day if necessary, to “politely” and “respectfully” ask for the matter to be dealt with. Cody’s plight suggests more needs to be done to educate Canadians travellers because most don’t read the warnings on the government’s website, McTeague added. Cody was behind the wheel when they were broadsided by a truck. He hasn’t been charged with anything but under Cuban law the accident is deemed a crime and he must remain in the communist country until he proves his innocence.
The vacation that was supposed to be his reward for getting into college has now likely cost Cody his school year. It has also put Danette in debt more than $30,000 and the single mom says they’ll be on the street soon if her son’s detention continues. A trust fund has been set up to help the LeComptes. Donations can be made at any TD Canada Trust bank, using the Account No. 6330413.
And a Facebook group, Bring Cody LeCompte Home, has attracted about 2,500 members. Kevin McCart, who doesn’t know Cody, started the group because he was “outraged” by the story. “Our government has sent care packages to Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay but they can’t seem to help this kid,” he said, referring to a Maclean’s magazine report in May that found the foreign affairs ministry had spent $2,100 on “comfort items” for the accused terrorist.
Meanwhile, the ministry maintains that while it won’t interfere with another country’s judicial system it is doing everything possible to bring Cody home “as quickly as possible.”
