Richard Brotherston is living what most would call a waking nightmare.
For the last three months, the 33-year-old Sechelt man has been held in a Cuban prison.
His parents, Les and Helen Brotherson of Vancouver, were expecting him home in late December, but Brotherston never arrived. Instead, they got a phone call a few days later from Jairo Gonzalez, a man Richard befriended during his vacation. Gonzalez, a Colombian immigrant living in Quebec City, told Les that Brotherston was in "grave danger."
Les and Helen then made contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and learned Brotherston had been arrested for punching a police officer. Although, according to Les and Helen, Brotherston apologized to police for the incident, he was still in custody despite no charges being laid against him.
Under Cuban law, someone who has been arrested can be held for up to one year while police investigate the crime. Les and Helen have been working non-stop since their son's arrest to get Brotherston the support and legal help he desperately needs.
But that's not the end of the story. Witnesses and his family say Brotherston was drugged before the altercation with police.
In the early morning of Dec. 28, 2009, Brotherston and Al Bonigut, a Toronto man Brotherston met at his resort, went out to a Havana night club because Brotherston was anxious to see a Cuban woman he had been spending time with during his stay. According to Bonigut and Gonzales, the woman was a prostitute and a "santera" or a practitioner of Santeria a religion that originated from West African slaves, commonly practised in Cuba.
"He said 'she put some kind of spell on me.' He had to see her one last time," Bonigut said referring to Brotherston.
After meeting the woman in the club and speaking with her for about 15 minutes, Brotherston began acting erratically and destructively.
"He was acting really strange," Bonigut said. "His grip on reality was deteriorating as the night went on."
Bonigut said during the cab ride back to the resort, Brotherston was ranting incoherently.
"He was just not making any sense. He was just completely out of it, and this isn't from drinking, since he didn't have a single drink the entire time I was with him," Bonigut said.
Brotherston twice jumped out of the moving cab, resulting in the two of them being separated. The last time Bonigut saw him, Brotherston was in a cab heading back into Havana, while Bonigut was left walking.
The next day, police brought Brotherston, frightened and injured, back to his resort. He had been robbed during the night and begged Gonzalez to pay the 200-peso fine the police demanded. The police told Brotherston he needed to come to the police station to sign papers to make everything official before catching his flight home.
Gonzalez went with Brotherston to help translate. He said he overheard the officers saying they should have demanded more money and that Brotherston was in a lot of trouble.
"They said that Richard will be an example for those Canadians who go to Cuba to do whatever they want," Gonzalez said during an interview with Coast Reporter through an interpreter.
After waiting several hours at the police station and missing his flight home, Brotherston was taken to a separate room while police took Gonzalez back to the resort.
"They took all his belongings and said 'Richard is going to stay here for a long time,'" Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez' wife, Andrea Valdiri, said Brotherston's symptoms were consistent with people who have been drugged with scopolamine (also known as devil's breath), an anti-nauseate that can cause hallucinations, paranoia and violent behaviour in strong enough doses. She said it is commonly used in her native Colombia to drug victims before robbing or kidnapping them.
"This is a very common experience in Colombia. We know. Jairo said 'someone gave scopolamine to him.' Some people have hallucinations. It's very strong," Valdiri said.
DFAIT spokesperson Dana Cry-derman confirmed Brotherston's situation, but offered little comment when contacted this week.
"[DFAIT] is aware of the arrest and detention of a Canadian citizen in Cuba. The Embassy of Canada in Cuba is providing consular assistance to the individual through quarterly consular visits and regular telephone contact," she said in an e-mail to Coast Reporter.
She added that, due to privacy laws, she could offer no further details.
After the arrest, Brotherston spent 15 days in a local detention centre he described to his family as a "like a dungeon."
He was in a two by three metre cell with four other men and was fed through the cell bars. He was allowed out of his cell only twice for 20 minutes of exercise.
On the advice of Foreign Affairs staff, Les and Helen contacted a Cuban lawyer and sent $3,000 to retain his services, but they said the lawyer has done little but visit Brotherston once to get him to sign papers.
Helen said information is slow in coming, but the family has been told Brotherston could be officially charged with something by the end of the month.
They said they've learned Brotherston can expect a sentence of one to three years if he is convicted, with a chance to apply for a transfer to a Canadian prison after one year.
"It's scary stuff if he's put away," Helen said.
Les and Helen are now also paying out-of-pocket for some of their son's bills at home and sending other family members to take care of his house and cats in Sechelt.
Brotherston has since been transferred to La Condesa prison, a prison for foreigners about one hour outside Havana, where he told his parents conditions are much better. In one of his letters home, Brotherston told his family he has access to books and sports equipment and is able to receive regular phone calls and letters.
While La Condesa is an improvement, Brotherston is still facing many challenges, including swarms of flies, other inmates smoking and irritating his asthma, and a lack of clean drinking water. Les and Helen must also send money to cover the cost of his food while he is incarcerated.
"He's making the most of the situation, but it's sure not his favourite place to be, I'll tell you that," Les said. "He said scorpions and tarantulas are coming in the summer time so he wants to get out of there."
Les and Helen call their son at least once a week, and he has been able to send letters, though Les said keeping their son's spirits up is a challenge.
"He has ups and downs. He gets depressed sometimes. We tell him to hang in there," he said.
"He just wants to come home," Helen added.
Ultimately, Les and Helen said their son is being treated unfairly.
"Somebody drugs you and you go a bit crazy and hit somebody and then they blame you? That doesn't wash with me," Les said. "I feel for him because he's my son and he wants to be home. He doesn't deserve to be there and it bugs me that the government doesn't do anything about it."
West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country member of Parliament John Weston was just learning about Brotherston's case this week and planned to contact Les and Helen directly to see what assistance he could provide.
Coast Reporter will continue to follow this story on-line at www.coastreporter.net and in print in the April 2 edition.
