Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 10, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
The government’s numbers relating to the arrival and departure of Haitians give rise to more questions than answers. The government says that a little more than 1,100 of the Haitians who arrived for this year have departed, and not 13, as was claimed by this newspaper.
The government was a little late in responding to the concerns expressed about a possible people-smuggling ring involving Haitians. And, therefore, one has to also examine closely, and not take for granted automatically, the numbers which the government have thrown out as representing the departure of Haitian nationals for this year so far.
The government says there is no evidence of people-smuggling involving the movement of Haitians. But this does not account for the thousands of Haitians and Cubans coming into the country, and for whom there are no records of departure.
If thousands of Haitians are coming to Guyana via airlines, they are coming mainly with return tickets. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that having spent all of that money to come to Guyana – some persons place the sum as much as US$1,900 – that they would be returning via air.
Now if they were planning to go to Brazil overland, and if they had valid visas to go to Brazil, there would hardly seem to be reason why they should be expending all that money to buy a return ticket.
Let us suppose that, with our overzealous immigration officers, the majority of those Haitians decided that it was necessary to arrive with a return ticket to show an intention to return. Fair enough. But from where did the just over 1,100 depart? Did they depart with their return tickets or did they depart through Lethem? And, if so, why then have a return ticket?
The point is that it makes little sense for the government – in response to the concerns being expressed – to provide the departure numbers, without indicating how many of these departures were overland and how many were by air.
Reports in another section of the media quoted Haitian arrivals as saying that many of them do not pass through immigration at our borders. This means that they leave illegally and the act of providing any form of assistance for illegal entry or departure amounts to smuggling.
And this is the issue which needs to be addressed. Of the 7,000 persons who are not recorded as having left Guyana for this year, how many are believed to have left illegally across our borders? And how many are estimated to still be in Guyana? What measures are being put in place to ensure that there is no ‘backtracking’ across the Guyana border into Brazil.
The authorities have also not indicated whether they are in contact with their Brazilian colleagues about monitoring the situation. This is all the more important, given that the traffic does not appear to be only Haitians – but from the numbers provided by the opposition last year, there would seem to be a case, also, of large number of Cubans making their way to Brazil.
Last April, a representative of the Cuban government met with local officials and urged a rethink of the no-visa policy for Cubans entering Guyana. The Cubans contended that this is not intended to slow the traffic of Cubans, but to ensure a smooth legal flow. In other words, the Cubans are concerned about the risk of their countrymen becoming involved in illegal migration to other nations. Cuba recognises the damage to its image, which can result from a mini-exodus of Cubans to South American states.
It is for this reason that the Cubans asked for information about Cubans passing through Guyana. They recognise that apart from coming for shopping and permanent visa-processing to the United States, Cubans may also be using Guyana as a chute to get into other South American nations.
More than 2,000 Cubans have reportedly applied for asylum between last November and last April, according to “The Rio Times”, a Brazilian news source. Brazil is also offering Cubans a permit to stay in Brazil once they are part of the Doctors for Brazil programme, a version of which the Brazilian government, ironically, discontinued last year. Cuban professionals are therefore going to head towards Brazil, and Guyana may be part of their in-transit travel plans.
All of this suggests that the government has to get serious about immigration controls. No country should have slack controls when it comes to the movement of foreign nationals across its borders. Judging from the number of unaccounted-for Cubans and Haitians who arrived in Guyana, there is a need for those controls to be looked at again.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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