Days after the Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo laid claims of government being involved in a human trafficking ring, his party is now seeking to attract the attention of the United Nations (UN).

Chief Whip of the Peoples Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C), and Member of Parliament, Gail Teixeira, issued a letter to that effect.

The former Minister noted, “it is time for the international, including the relevant UN bodies and the IOM (International Organization for Migration), as well as the diplomatic community to pay closer attention to this development.”

Over the last few months, the PPP has repeatedly referred at various press conferences about information it has been receiving with regard to some 5,400 Haitian nationals being trafficked through Guyana.

At a press conference hosted at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Jagdeo accused government ministers of being involved in the “ring”.

Teixeira noted today, that these nationals are “being met airside” when they land at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and escorted through the immigration process to waiting vehicles.”

The politician asserted that there is a “twist” since the information being received by the PPP indicates that in return for their “safe passage” through Guyana, the nationals are being provided with Guyanese identity documents such as birth certificates, national identity cards, with Guyanese names – which are then left in Guyana.

This is of great concern, the Chief Whip penned; noting that Local and Regional Elections are around the corner.

If new identities are being created then why are these documents not being used by the Haitians for their onward movement? Why are these documents being kept with their handlers based in Guyana? For what purpose?  Is this to be used to register new voters? And whose identities are they using? Persons who have died or who have emigrated whose names are already on the national registration database and the voters’ lists?” Teixeira quizzed.

At a parliamentary sectoral committee meeting some months ago, PPP/C MPs raised concerns with regards to the Haitian arrivals and trafficking. The Committee then sought information from the Minister of Citizenship, Minister Felix in February 2018, about the number of Haitians entering and departing Guyana.

Teixeira stated that the Minister in his response to the Committee on May 23, 2018, provided information on the arrival and departures of Haitians and seven other nationalities entering annually for the years 2013- 2018 (April).

(The following tables were provided by PPP/C Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira)

Table 1: For the years 2013-2015:- 

Nationality Arrival 2013 Departures 2013 Arrival

2014

Departure

2014

Arrival 2015 Departure

2015

Chinese 2869 2082 2630 2838 2834 2676
Haitian   188     99   227    113    770  136
Brazilian 1668 2329 7235 7422 10545 10250
Indian 1175 1054 1277 1199 1475 1251
Cuban   813   457  1292 772 4943 3569
Venezuelan   799   744 6905 6888 5939 5650
Dominican Republic   394   261    595    377 1075    562
Bangladeshi     94     52       57      29       75      52

Table 2: For the years 2016-2018 April:-

Nationality Arrival 2016 Departure

2016

Arrival

2017

Departure

2017

Arrival

2018

Departure 2018
Chinese 3472 2937 3868 2139 1435 1402
Haitian    722    451 3515    291  1238      85
Brazilian 13253 12733 5613 5248 3893 3340
Indian 1457 1501 1541 1660   452   467
Cuban 21165 19225  44747 37492  22520 16350
Venezuelan    892    863     689     616       315      301
Dominican Republic    801    699     525     478       265      192
Bangladeshi       97      56      32        21       43         14

 

In total as of April 2018, according to the figures supplied, Table 3 shows the numbers who appear to have not left Guyana:-

Nationality Arrivals Departures In Guyana ?
Chinese 17, 108 14,074  3,034
Haitian 6,660 1,175 5,485
Brazilian 42,207 41,322     885
Indian 7,372 7,132     240
Cuban 95,480 77,865 17,615
Venezuelan 15,539 15,062      477
Dominican Republic  3655 2569 1086
Bangladeshi 398 224 74

 

The PPP Parliamentarian is arguing that unlike what has been conveyed for years that Brazilians, Chinese, Indians and more recently, Venezuelans were flooding in and taking over, the truth is far different when one examines these figures for 2013-2015 and 2015-2018.

However, we cannot find any evidence of the presence of such a large number of 5, 485 Haitians, nor of 17,615 Cubans, in Guyana. 23,000 people who speak different languages in a small population such as ours would be easily discernible.

Therefore something is going on. The most logical explanation is that Guyana is being used as a transhipment point for a large and well organized human trafficking ring, on a scale only possible with the collaboration of key officials within the government. Based on these figures, these victims of human trafficking, may not only include Haitians, but also other nationalities.”

 

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