Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing my last letter on the subject of the Venezuelan refugees. Since then, I have seen Freddie Kissoon pick up the issue and Minister Harmon’s comments on it on TV and as reported in the Chronicle.
Whenever someone in charge of a process as part of his response merely reiterates what every sane person should know as if he is telling himself that fact, I get suspicious that there is more in the mortar than the pestle. We already know that the law must take its course. I have gotten used to Minister Harmon’s style by now so I was not surprised. Foreign Minister Greenidge’s remarks, however, were a bit troubling. He, to bolster Minister Harmon’s position, immediately (and ironically) sought refuge himself by resorting to a technicality ‒ the strict legal definition of a refugee – to contend that the Venezuelans did not quite fit there.
I would prefer to ground Minister Greenidge, whose intelligence and knowledge I have the most profound respect for, in some reality. All those beautiful technical definitions would have been crafted ex post facto – after the first situations of persons running over borders for survival had to be dealt with. First the situation, then the definition. So whether the Venezuelans coming here fit into his concept box or not, what we have is a situation on our hands.
Minister Harmon says we are OK with helping the Venezuelans from a humanitarian point of view. President Granger said as much some while ago. What are the form and substance of this assistance? It looks to me like ‘lak dem up’.
For the forgetful, the unmindful, and the just too young to know, I want to mention the following: in the ʼ90s we had refugees from the Angolan war that washed up on our shores. I think they came through Brazil. They were given assistance and allowed to work. In the late ʼ80s or early ʼ90s we had a group of Surinamese in Guyana who were fleeing the war between Ronnie Brunswijk and Desi Bouterse. This latter group showed up in Berbice. I do not recall hearing that they were put before the court.
In around 2000 I was trying to help a Cuban who came through Brazil looking for survival. Failing to get his compatriots here to pay him any mind, I took him to Brickdam Police Station to find out if they could loan him some sleeping quarters. I was to get a big surprise. The policemen on realizing that they needed help understanding him said, “Oh, Get whitey”. Next thing I knew a man (Latin-American type white) about 35 years old with his skin covered with tattoos was brought. He told me he was from Argentina. The man was unshackled and was apparently free to go and come as he liked and had been allowed to take up residence there! (Till ah fine a place?). I understand that there is a family of Argentine beggars being taken care of by the Catholic Church right now. I didn’t hear they were put before the court and I doubt whether they applied for citizenship.
The Venezuelans are not the first refugees to wash up on Guyana’s shores. Could it be that they are being singled out for special treatment? Or could it be that in the attempt to shake them down they were brought before the law when they couldn’t pay up. I have had Brazilians tell me that each one of them was approached for a shakedown.
Whatever be the case with these examples I have cited, it is clear that our treatment of visitors washing up on our shores has not always been as inhospitable as with these Venezuelans. The Minister gave a hint about the need to protect our country’s borders. Perhaps that might be the reason for the different treatment. I have met Venezuelans shopping in Ashmin’s and at Starr Computers. So, clearly we have not been putting Venezuelans before the court when they come in legally.
The problem is that we have persons who have a bona-fide economic problem in their country and one would expect that is the starting point of a new policy which puts in place measures for humanitarian treatment. And yes, even a suspension of the laws in respect of these hapless people. The Medes and Persians whose laws “changeth not” no longer exist.
Let me end by paraphrasing Deuteronomy 24:18 for our good ministers of government (and perhaps of the churches) and all of my somnolent Guyanese brothers and sisters: “Remember that your countrymen were refugees themselves as they went to Trinidad, Barbados, and every island of the Caribbean that would have them, and Suriname and Brazil and Venezuela as they carried their red, white, and blue jute bags seeking work and trade from whomsoever would provide it.”
This is our opportunity to shine. Venezuela’s plight has to be temporary. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate. When Venezuela is okay again their people will remember how they were treated in their time of need.
Yours faithfully,
Frederick W A Collins
