Seven Guyanese who had been detained since last Friday in a “cold room” at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados were sent back to Guyana yesterday morning.
A press release from the Guyana Honorary Consulate in Barbados said when the Consulate on the island was informed of their detention the day before, it immediately contacted supervisors at the Immigration Section at Grantley Adams International Airport, where they were being held in the detention area. According to the release, a probe was made into reports that the Guyanese were not being properly fed and held for an unreasonably long period of time. Consul Norman Faria also spoke with one of the aggrieved Guyanese.
Faria himself travelled to the airport yesterday to gather further information from a detained Guyanese who was among the group rounded up by authorities on Monday.
The release said the Barbados Immigration autho-rities informed the Consulate that the Guyanese violated Barbados Immigration regulations and they were detained and deported. They said too that because of the unavailability of plane seats to Guyana at this time, the Guyanese were unable to leave before yesterday.
Based on the information received the Guyanese were picked up from different locations on the island and taken to the airport where the authorities threatened to deport them. A relative of one of the persons said that they were being fed bread and water only during their detention.
