Caricom’s free movement and Caribbean “brotherhood”

Dear Editor,
Darren Wade, who is the lawyer representing the Haitians in this so-called free movement of Caribbean people matter, is at the centre of a politico-humanitarian conflict that is raging on right now in Guyana, but I have a few poignant facts to put before him. I say poignant facts because these are the reality of the situation we are faced with.
In the first place, is Mr Wade aware of the position Haiti falls under when it comes to Caricom’s free movement of people? I do not think so, because the erroneous assumption he is embarking on of “free movement” does not apply to Haiti as is the true interpretation of the charter agreement.
In the second instance, he is alluding to another erroneous assumption, that as a Caribbean national you are under a halo of some sorts to be given mandatory entry into someone else’s country to stay or to go on to another destination in this grand scheme of human trafficking. Well, I must educate Mr Wade and his PNC associates that a responsible Government such as ours is not going to stand idly by and allow this human exploitation to flourish, at least not under our watch. This is a classic case of human trafficking, a Caribbean form of slavery in motion, and should I say in the strongest of tones ever, Guyana will not be part of it!
Now, as per normal, when all else fails, the PNC is quick to jump on the bandwagon of race and in this case, the ethnicity of the migrants can come in under the caption of “humane consideration.” He is suggesting that because you are of a certain ethnicity you can evidently bypass the agreement and that settles the matter, well I have some information to furnish Mr Wade, that he should pay strict attention to: (a) We are still a country that respects laws and (b) Of all the Caribbean territories, Guyana remains the friendliest and most humane.
A case in point is the treatment meted out to a group of Haitians who were caught overstaying their time in the sister Island of St Lucia, in that instance, the poor hapless Haitian men, women and children were rounded up and cooped up into the same cell. This was the grossest form of the violation of one’s human rights. And to top it off, no one said a “humane word” on the part of the Haitians because all of this came from the instructions of the Government of the day.
Sarcastically, I would make the remark that this is their interpretation of what “free movement and Caribbean integration” is all about, it was a crude display of man’s inhumanity to man. Further to it, their situation would not have changed until a local human rights group spoke out against it.
But let me put the Haitians aside for a moment and let us concentrate a bit on “Black Caribbean Brotherhood,” that is, the way Guyanese were treated at their fellow Black Caribbean brothers’ ports of entry. We were subjected to the most inhumane and undignified treatment ever, the moment a Caribbean immigration official saw a Guyanese travel document or maybe his speech gave him away, every form of humiliating and demeaning measures was employed to keep the Guyanese out. Maybe with the change in fortunes brought on by oil that aspect of our bad treatment might change.
Even Granger himself was a victim of such embarrassing circumstances, I am talking about him granting the Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Stuart the highest courtesies that can be extended to a Head of Government. However, soon after, when a fellow pregnant Guyanese landed on the Barbadian shores, she was given treatment befitting an animal, this is the reality of what I am talking about.
What I am saying is that the Government of Guyana is not anti-Haitian nor is it anti-Black as some might suggest. If that was the case, then the hundreds of Haitians that are still here would have been rounded up and summarily deported. What is crystal clear is that we will not allow illegal and inhumane exploitation of a fellow human being conducted on our shores, this is evil and would weigh heavily on our conscience. Our Government would ensure that this scourge is done away with.

Respectfully,
Neil Adams