SDKK
WILLEMSTAD--Some 21 undocumented migrants fled the deportee barracks at Curaçao’s SDKK prison in the early hours of Wednesday.
Warden Urny Floran said the escapees had bent the bars of one of the windows and climbed over a security fence. They were said to have been in an "extremely desperate" situation, which is why about 21 of the 38 detainees in the men’s section decided to break out.
Last Sunday, a group of 32 Venezuelan detainees had again gone on hunger strikes to draw the attention of authorities to their continued plight. They claim harassment, a poor diet and lack of medical attention.
These migrants from the neighbouring South American country, of whom most are now at large, had requested political asylum or protection claiming that it was not safe to return to their troubled homeland. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently ruled that they could not be repatriated at least until May 23, while their cases are being investigated.
