Guyana has instructed its Consulate in Barbados to compile reported cases of early morning raids on the homes of Guyanese resident on the island and to follow-up on the offer made by Prime Minister David Thompson to investigate such allegations.
Thompson had made the offer to President Bharrat Jagdeo during discussions on the matter.
At that time the Barbadian prime minister had denied any knowledge that the homes of Guyanese were being raided while implementing his government’s immigration policy.
Government spokesperson Dr. Roger Luncheon at his post-cabinet media briefing yesterday said Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues was urged to continue conveying government’s reservations to the Barbadian authorities on the frequency of reports of unfair treatment and harassment of Guyanese in Barbados.
“Recalling the pledge to investigate and deal with any such cases, [Honorary Consul Norman]Faria was instructed to follow-up on that offer.. compile cases and meet with them to examine them,” Luncheon said.
He disclosed too that cabinet has since undertaken to have the immigration and welfare authorities add the forced remigrants to the existing database of other remigrants and to provide them with assistance offered to others.
He acknowledged that the issue has since gained heightened attention and has also aroused strong and varied feelings among the Caricom heads and particularly the peoples of Caricom countries, leading some to question the future of the integration movement. However he reiterated that government remains committed to the furthering of integration in Caricom.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a public notice calling on persons who have experienced ill treatment by Barbadian law enforcement to report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the advertisement which appears in today’s Stabroek News, it said that Government has since held discussions with its counterparts over reports of the treatment being meted out to its nationals in the implementation of the policy. It clearly states too that the Barbados government has assured this government that it does not condone such ill treatment.
Against the background of this pledge, Rodrigues in an interview with this newspaper on Tuesday said the Thompson administration, having denied knowledge that these things are happening could be confronted with specific cases.
Rodrigues said on a recent trip to Barbados she met with several Guyanese, many of whom attested to the treatment being meted out to some of their countrymen.
She declared that if Guyanese are there illegally and have to be deported they should at least be treated ‘humanely’.
Protect Guyanese
Meanwhile Luncheon also told reporters yesterday that government expects to support some of the aspects of a motion tabled by the Alliance for Change (AFC) last month, which basically proposes that government do all in its power to protect the rights of Guyanese nationals in Barbados and other Caricom states.
The motion, in the name of AFC MP Raphael Trotman seeks to have the House call on government to exhaust all diplomatic and legal efforts to guarantee the protection of its people, providing assistance for “dignified repatriation” in cases where they are returned from Barbados or other territories in the region.
It also seeks to have the government make preparation for the social and economic re-integration of such nationals in the Guyanese society.
The move came on the eve of the beginning of a period which the Barbados government has set aside for undocumented non-nationals living in Barbados to seek to regularise their status, as part its efforts to clamp down on illegal immigrants.
The motion is informed by the deep concern of members of the National Assembly about the well-being, human rights and dignity of those Guyanese citizens who are resident and those who travel to Barbados and other Caricom states. As a result, the National Assembly is being urged to call on all sister Caricom governments and in particular Barbados, “to ensure due process and protection under the Constitution and laws of Barbados”.
It is expected to be debated in the National Assembly shortly.
Go on, Faria, compile the cases and bind them neatly in a 58 page document with a cute, urgent foreword, very much like Jagdeo Low Carbon Development Strategy.
Make sure you adhere to much data collection, pontificating, inaction.
Keep it up, boys and girls of the PPP/C.
We are beyond the stage of gathering reports. The government of Guyana must insist that its citizens be treated with respect or our players on the West Indies cricket team will be asked to boycott playing any matches in Barbados. I mentioned this in a post yesterday and it seemed to have struck a nerve. The Barbadian colonials were loud in their barking disapproval. I’ll also keep asking each day the same questions until I get answers. How many non-Caricom nationals have been subjected to the fascist tactics of early morning raids? How many non-Caricom nationals have been subjected to removal from buses and the streets of Barbados?
Ma Riddle, Ma Riddle, Ma Ree…
Which govt in the English Speaking Caribbean treats Guyanese the worst?
Repeat…Which govt in the English Speaking Caribbeant treats Guyanese the worst…?
Answer: The Guyana govt.
Borapork , you have no moral right to tell the government and people of Barbados what to do because you fled from Guyana and the inept government . The AFC , PPP et al should form a government of national unity and come up with ideas to develop Guyana , socio-economically . The government of Barbados must answer to the people of Barbados – not the the members of parliament in Guyana . Bajans have been helping Guyaneses’ in Barbados in many ways . Many Bajans have allowed Guyaneses’ to live in their home , along with children . We have befriended Guyaneses in this country and are treating them like family , yet we are hearing that Bajans ill-treating them . Borapork , keep crying “Wolf” because one day the wolf may appear . My passport needs renewing but I don’t think that I will be having it done soon because I will be spending my money by spending my vacation leave at local hotels . Barbados and Bajans are the envy of some Caribbean people but Barbados will never end up like the Fiji Islands nor Guyana . Borapork it is economically viable for the West Indies Team to play test cricket in Barbados because our currency is strong and our economy is stable . $1.00 U.S = $2.00 BAR and $402.00 GUY . Guyana is not contributing much to CARICOM but wants to benefit , significantly . The PPP government should be fighting and arresting the criminals , all of whom , are destroying the Republic ; instead of bad-mouthing the government and people of Barbados .
The government of Barbados does not have the right to treat Guyanese with indignity. You can enforce all your laws but do it in a humane way. Now my two questions:
How many non-Caricom nationals have been subjected to the fascist tactics of early morning raids?
How many non-Caricom nationals have been subjected to removal from buses and the streets of Barbados?
I look forward to an answer.
Wiggins:
Who gave your nation Banks Beer?
Which nation gave you Olga Lopes-Seale?
Which country provided Clyde Walcott employment and hospitality in the late fifties and early sixties?
Which nation sent the technical expertise to show you how to recover sugar?
Which nation provided school teachers and head masters to teach your uneducated?
Which nation gave you the mother of Rihanna?
Which international Barbadian singer consider Bajans to be the most envious people on earth and therefore limit her time in that country? Hint her mother is Guyanese and her name begins with an “R”.
For all the good Guyana has done for Barbados, you repaid us with Burnham, a descendant of bajans. Thank you.
bora pork , you can say what ever you want about who came from guyana , but olga lope seal lived in barbados because life was better here , we did not go looking for her , banks beer yes from there but we took it to the next level , and rhianna was born here with a guyanese mother ,but did you also noticed she had a bajan father ?At lease she spends more time here than the guyanese that running from there to come here . I wonder if you have something to do because it seems like you sit around all day every day thinking what you can think to bad talk here . Please tell me what guyana done for guyanese besides let them suffer , why is it Barbados’ job to look out for every one that here running from there ?
BORAPORK where is all the hate coming from? You got real issues!
colin2nice: Can you highlight where in my comments/questions I have displayed or professed hatred towards Bajans or Barbados? Treating humans like scum especially Guyanese will and should be rebuffed and condemned.
a bajan: When did asking questions and seeking answers become an attack on Barbados? When did pointing out some facts become an attack on bajans?
I believe Barbados has the right and authority to make their laws and implement them. I have a problem in how they are implemented.
By dint of a very good education, excellent professional life and wise investment I do not need to work, and now I use my time to educate bajans on the realities of life and the world. You are proof positive that living on a rock of 166 square miles can be very limiting and intellectually stifling.
does anyone take Reddy in Barbados seriously? This man is hopeless. Guyanese need better representation in barbados. All he does is write senseless letters under his pen name John Reed. Damn sycophant.
Romulus, pretty good observation, but, the last word in your blog for wanting to spell a word,(sycophant) “psy-cho-path”.Thats your summer assignment, see u in the fall.
This is reall Guyanese hypocrisy. The only government that treats Guyanese badly is the Guyana government! Jagdeo, who you think you are “checking” on the Barbados government.
I agree with you my friend. In fact, over the last few days Stabroeknews has unfairly and successfully made the story more about the Barbados government and how unwelcoming it is to Guyanese, when the story should be about the Guyana government inability to provide an attractive alternative to is citizens.
For those of you who might want to jump on this I suggest that you think seriously before you engage your computer keyboard. If Guyana and its government were self-respecting entities then Barbados would not have treated Guyanese the way they now do. Cubans and Haitians, among the poorest countries on this side of the world, don’t even get this kind of treatment when they go places. They get state houses to live in as refugees.
I am Guyanese by birth (parents moved me as a child) but support the Barbadian government on their move only if it is to make Guyanese look inwards rather than outwards to solve their problems. Guyana can start process now of becoming a self respecting nation again by sending a chartered flight to Barbados to pick up the Guyanese there. It will be the first signal to the world that Guyana can again be there for its citizens when they are in need.
Let’s just think rational about people and ignore the way this newspapers has sensationalize this issue.
Salt fish and bake
I agree with you 100%.This newspaper has sensationalized the isssue.
Is it capable of doing this? I have checked the EDITORIALS in this paper for the month of June. One editorial entitled” The Barbados ejection” attracted 18 comments/blogs. All the other editorials attracted less than 10 comments/blogs each; some did not even attract a comment.
Does this say anything? I am beginning to agree with REDDY that the editor is sleeping or busy lookimg out on Robb Street.
Mr Editor it is time to encourage debate of the issue free from emotionalism.
No-ball, does debate have to come up and hit you in the face for you to recognise it? What do you think we’re doing here? You contradict yourself. First you call for debate and then you lament that this subject attracts the interest of more bloggers than others.
What does it matter how SN couched the headlines, more bloggers share your views anyway, so SN’s headlines have nothing to do with influencing the debate. Newspapers are entitled to their headlines, it is we who are charged with the responsibility of getting it right, and as you can see, most bloggers on this topic do get it right.
Go read the other bloggers and stop preaching to the converted.
saltfish the have to pick you up too you aint on bajan it aint have nothing to do with how long yo deh the bottom line is you aint no bajan
Thanks SN for keeping us informed about this issue. Are guys forgetting that SN was the only newspaper who sent a reporter to do an investicated report.
Sorry my friends but the way I see it SN is keeping both the Barbados and Guyana government on their toes. We may have known the what was happening, because Chronicle NCN would not tell us. Congradulations is in order the independent media.
Luncheon, it is a little too late in the day now that you have woken up. The steps you are trying to implement now should have been in place since Thompson made his views clear. The welfare of the guyanese people should have been on the agenda moons ago. Hopefully those who have returned have seen the light and would not tolerate the crap you and your government have been feeding the citizens!!!
Ditto, they knew this was going down, how about setting up shop in BIM to offer services to help people comply with Barbadian authorities and leave the island.
How about working with the Bajan govt to give notices to these people then the consular could work with these people and the bajan govt to get them back home safely with their belongings vs. being rounded up like cattle.
Isn’t that what Reddy is there for? this man is just as useless as the PPP no wonder he is always on here defending their behaviour.
Brandon I support you on this one.
they leave guyana on their own, why the govt, must now take care of them.
that is their problem living ?????????/???????????, they should pack up and left before the dead line.
yes freespeech that is the purpose of consular representatives around the world go and read and enlighten yourself. Even if our citizens get into trouble with the laws of the host countries our representatives are there to assist our people regardless of what crimes they have committed.
Do you understand that freespeech or is that too difficult for you to comprehend?
Finally some sort of positive results from the Guyana government on this issue….. reddy make ur self useful.
Listen Guyarabian! First of all the PPP Government needs to present some sort of developmental program for the country over the next ten years or so. Exporting people to work illegally in other small economies is not such a policy. Jagdeo and his PPP are only looking out for themselves and their future, hence the handsome benefits package the President will receive for the remaninder of his life after he leaves office.
Next. Norman Faria should be kicked out of Barbados as far as I am concerned. He is a poor representative of what a diplomat should be. Meddling is Barbados politics from his podium is a no no. Faria HAS AND does more damage to the Guyanese cause here than good. Obviously he is supported by Jagdeo in his mischief as Jagdeo tries to misdirect his people’s minds from the real issue, which is that he is incompetent as a leader. Maybe Barbados should send David Thompson there to show the Guyanese how to run a country and get it back on its feet.
Barbados is a role model for the world’s developing countries. Google this fact and you will see my friends.
I AM A PROUDDDDDD BARBADIAN. PROUDDDD BARBADIAN.
WE WILL SURVIVE NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU BLOGGERS LIVING IN AMERICA AND OTHER PLACES WISH US EVIL.
Boredickey you can have fun while the sun shine on the beaches, when there was no tourism in the early 1900’s Bajans were looking for British Guyana for survival so dont praise Thompson praise them foreigners.
Guybarian
the rest of the Region recognizes that Guyana has a deliberate policy of encouraging the migration of its citizens. The Guyana cricketers on the W.I team do not even live in Guyana.
(i)Depite the continuous brain drain Guyana continues to maintain a compulsory retirement age of 55. Is this to allow Guyanese to retire at 55 and then go and work for ten years in another CARICOM country and qualify for a pension there?
(ii)Why have so many highly skilled and qualified Afro-Guyanse who migrated to CARICOM countries not been allowed to work in Guyana on their return even though their skills are sorely needed there? Is this a ploy to deter them from returning?
(iii) Faria should also be instructed to interview the undocumented migrants about the factors which drove them from Guyana so that he can compile data to help the Guyana government develop policies to address those factors.
Reply
First of all I myself have migrated as have 99% of bloggers here. Migration is and always has existed, People have even migrated from countries like England and the US, so migrating from Guyana is no problem all we need is proper representation in Barbados. While I was on my way to Saudi Arabia I had to simply check out in Barbados and then check in for my onward connection. The immigration people put me in the GUYANESE holding section because every1 there was Guyanese and had an agent from the airline come escort me to check in then escorted me to the waiting lounge. All I am saying is that either Barbados gets their act together or get out of CARICOM
Well said , boredickey , Well said . Keep the Broken Trident flying high .
“The TRUTH is a mighty sword” .
lol Guyarabian. You said Bajans need to get their act together or get out of Caricom. Do the Guyanese have their act together? Guyanese have precious little to offer Caricom nationals. Perhaps Guyana should get out of Caricom.
Reddy is useless he is a total waste of time.
I have said over and over again on this site, the man is a relic he is a fossil. He is always spreading propaganda on SN and he does more of an injustice to the dumb government that he has because instead of serving the people which he is being paid to do he is busy with the propaganda machinery trying to distort the facts in a public newspaper daily.
I mean seriously do you see the Indian ambassador or the American Ambassador on Stabroeknews blogging all day long? hell no those people have work to do and they have character and class. Instead Nawwwwwwrrrmans aka Reddy is here all day long.
Remember a woman not too long ago wrote stabroek and complained about how rude reddy was to her? he told he she had to fly to Guyana to get a new passport what nonsense is that?
Well you know Samaroo this blogging thing could get a little addictive. Maybe Reddy just can’t break the habit. Can’t shake the urge. He could be strung out and in need of rehab. Then again it could be a part of his job description to patrol these blogs and spew as much bilge as he could. I’m just saying.
Reddy,is totally absent here so far, he is busy spewing bile about Stabroek News on the other articles. Maybe he is afraid he might say something we are not suppose to know.
hehhehe ah sky I am not sure what you are talking about the blogs being addictive.
Don’t feel bad Samaroo, even I’m not sure what I’m talking about sometimes. The stuff just comes and I type it.
The Consulate should also advice those who are undocumented or illegal to pack their bags and wait for the call or free ride to the airport. Don’t wait till they come knocking. They have been given more than 6 weeks notice and should not complain when picked up at foreday mnorning. Alternatively, go into the BDOS immigration and arrange for an orderly departure.
What a total waste of time. What will be accomplished by investigating after the act is already comitted? Who has authority over the Immigration Department ? Or are they an autonomous group. The Govt’ of Barbados is looking out for its citizens though in a barbaric manner which will affect them sooner than later, time for Jagdeo to start looking uot for Guyanese and stop trying to control Thompson, leave him to face his soon demise. The hatred will soon be coming from Bajans against him very soon.
I totally agree with you Chemist. However, when all of the Guyanese leave Barbados, i do hope that the Bajans will move away from their parents and stand like men and women, and rent apartments/houses. I also hope that the exedous of Guyanese will also cause them to learn some of our work ethics, because as it stands presently. most private employers would never employ the majority of them, if they had their way.
GT Woman, when are you leaving Barbados? You seem to have a problem with Bajans. Why won’t you return to Guyana?
Why are so many bloggers talking about the way in which the Bardadian Government conduct their business regarding ridding their Island of illegal residents? There is nothing wrong with with arresting illegals who have become a cancer (prostitution, drug running, et al) to the life blood of the Island. In the 70’s the US immigration conducted early morning raids on residents suspected of residing there illegally. If someone occupies my property illegally I will use every means to to get rid of them, especially if they are destroying my property. ISNM
Does this mean that Reddy finally got some real work to do and that he will be busy for a while to the point where we wouldn’t have to read his garbage for a while? We can only hope.
All I have to say is my fellow Guyanese in Barbados, why do you want to stay in a country that don’t want you? Where is your pride? Go back to Guyana and even if you have to demonstrate in the streets there for better conditions, wouldn’t that be better than what you are forcing yourself to endure?
…. better than the best of the rest ! urs is ,, ur comment deserve ,, to be front page and a “by” line to go with it ,, but u won’t get any credit ,, since yuh using a screen name to hide behind !…..
Speech SKY….Speech SKY…….Speech SKY…..
Thanks guys. Actually if I write a letter to the editor (and I havn’t for sometime now, much more fun on the blogs) I use my real name, but for the blogs, well I rather remain annonimous. But who knows I might change. As for credit, it’s fine, the important thing is the message, doesn’t matter who said it.