collusion, coordinated ‘secret’ operations at CJIA as passengers whisked to city hideouts
Questions are being raised now, with troubling news that thousands of Haitians entered the country over the past few months with little evidence that they have left.
Haitian nationals at the CJIA yesterday.
This has triggered grave concerns as to why there has been no or little action by the authorities.
From accounts of various sources, the arrival of the Haitians started to escalate earlier this year.
According to figures acquired by Kaieteur News, in January, 952 passengers arrived from Haiti. From February to July, it was 673, 345, 1321, 2010, 1749 and 1552 respectively.
This is just over 8,600 Haitians who arrived in the last seven months. They all arrived on flights of the Panamanian-owned Copa Airlines.
The Charlotte Street building where another group was taken.
Haiti, a French-Creolese speaking country of 10 million, shares its land mass with the Dominican Republic. It has been ravaged with hurricanes and earthquakes, with CARICOM member states understandably softening their stance on the beleaguered citizens.
However, Guyana has not officially announced that it has taken a policy to grant citizenship to Haitians, similar to what is happening in Region One with Venezuelan migrants.
Yesterday at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, at Timehri, the Copa Airlines flight arrived shortly before 2pm. The passengers had travelled from Haiti, stopped over in Panama, before flying to Guyana.
Under arrangements, Guyana can grant them an automatic six-month stay.In front of Arrivals area, three uniformed police ranks were present. There were persons speaking Spanish and French-Creolese waiting with families.In total, over 40 Haitians arrived on that Copa flight.
Airport officials said that the Copa flights have been coming daily with over 50 Haitians on average arriving.
Copa conducts up to six flights to Guyana weekly.
Persons who spoke French-Creolese, and who appeared to be Haitians,
One of the minibuses filled with passengers leaving the Timehri airport, yesterday afternoon.
were approaching the passengers who came off the flights. They were armed with photos of the passengers in their phones. The passengers were then whisked away to minibuses in the parking area. There were children and women included.
At the airport, drivers and others were not too keen to talk about the situation. They did say that the “organisers” had connections, as they had contacts with the “people” inside the Arrivals area.
The ‘B’ Field, Sophia property where a group of Haitians were taken
They were unable to say where the Haitians were being taken.
The Haitians left the airport after 4pm, with a dark-coloured RZ minibus, BSS 2130.
The bus made several detours, as if to shake off anyone who may have been following.
The first stop was made at the Sunflower Hotel and Fast Food restaurant, at the corner of Cummings Street and South Road, where someone in the front left seat very briefly interacted with a man decked in all-white, standing at the side of the road.
The bus then sped off, turning north into Light Street, then onto Charlotte Street, where about 15 passengers hurriedly exited for a nearby building that housed a business called ‘Hair Obsession’ downstairs.
The bus then sped off. The vehicle circled the street a number of times.
After the bus circled the block, the driver parked it on Winter Place, between Brickdam and Croal Street. There, it stayed parked for much of the afternoon while the driver sat on the corner of Croal and Winter Place.
Another Pitbull bus, BTT7252, headed to ‘B’ Field Sophia where it dropped off a number of Haitians at a private property.
In recent days, photos surfaced of Haitians arriving by the busloads at a South Road hotel.
Authorities had denied anything of that nature and deemed it fake news.
The Opposition had questioned the Coalition Government via the Parliamentary committee stage about the presence of foreign CARICOM nationals.