The abuse being meted to Haitians visiting Guyana by this Government is abhorrent. Haiti is a member-state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Citizens of CARICOM enjoy free movement between and among states. The Government of Guyana has fabricated a story to deny Haitians this freedom and expects Guyanese not to see through the deception. The excuse put forward by the government is that Haitians are victims of human trafficking and the government their saviour.
If Haitians were being trafficked it is not the victims who are arrested by the government; it is not the personal belongings, including passport and money of the victims that are confiscated by government officials. Trafficking in person is not solved by arresting the victims and placing them in inhumane conditions. Trafficking is solved by looking for the culprits who are trafficking the victims and seeking to arrest them.
Corralling a recent batch of Haitians that came here, allegedly confiscating their passports after they have satisfied Immigration requirements and arrived at their hotel is worse than what President Donald Trump did to migrants at the United States (U.S) border. Though President Trump’s cruelty is not condoned, those persons wanted to enter the U.S illegally and did not clear immigration. Haitians entered Guyana legally and cleared immigration.
Haitians are being criminalised by the Government. There are reports of them being physically and psychologically tortured by government officials and it is because of who they are. The government would find it hard to prove otherwise.
Brazilians and Venezuelans are entering Guyana illegally and they have not been abused like the Haitians. They do not speak English and they are not treated like Haitians whose first language is French. Brazilians and Venezuelans have created settlements in central Georgetown, not far from the Office of the President and they are not hunted and terrorised like Haitians.
Something is responsible for Haitians, who entered Guyana legally and are citizens of CARICOM, receiving dissimilar treatment to others, including those coming from India and China. It is not an issue of language. It is not an issue of location. It is not an issue of economics. It is one issue, and it matters not the excuse or how hard the Government tries to say it is not. It is ethnicity. It is discrimination against fellow CARICOM members because of their ancestry.
The silence of CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque and Chairman Ralph Gonsalves is deafening. The silence of CARICOM leaders is not only deafening but without shame. No other country in CARICOM has the international acclaimed legacy on the calendar as Haitians. When other CARICOM countries were still slave societies, Haitians had won their freedom and independence in 1804. In 1791, the slave by the name of François Toussaint L’Ouverture led a 13-year Slave Revolution against France.
The current economic deprivation in Haiti is not the function of lazy or brain dead people. Haitians carry the proud legacy of agreeing to pay France for their freedom, though the deal in today’s context is found to be grossly lopsided and exploitative, hanging over the people’s heads like Damocles. The continuous exploitation that has taken place in Haiti by foreign capital and the havoc wreaked by natural disasters have hurt Haiti and eroded the people’s capacity to develop a sustainable economy. They continue to persevere.
CARICOM leaders should bow their heads in shame that the U.S, in recent years, during the presidency of Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama, has been nicer and more accommodating to Haitians than CARICOM governments. Shame on the Secretariat that is in Guyana, and whose Secretary-General is always quick to pontificate on matters pertaining to Guyana’s politics but has suddenly sought refuge in silence.
Shame on CARICOM leaders. Their silence is akin to giving support to Haitians being criminalised after legally allowed to enter Guyana. Stories like these make people question CARICOM’s relevance. Stories like these make people see their leaders as cruel monsters or too weak to speak, appearing compromised and self-serving. Shame on them; shame on every one of them.
