Felix says show me the evidence of smuggling of Haitians

-Teixeira convinced major problem exists

Winston Felix
Winston Felix

Despite credible information that Haitian nationals are being smuggled from Guyana to Brazil, Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix says he wants to see the evidence

“How are we confirming that? We are getting anecdotal stories that persons are being smuggled [but] somebody has got to convince me that there is smuggling because smuggling has to be done covertly,” he told Sunday Stabroek in response to a report last week based on the account of a minibus driver, who transported a group of 16 Haitians from a hotel and bar in Soesdyke to Lethem.

PPP executive member Gail Teixeira has since said that the account given is the “tip of the iceberg” and a confirmation of a disturbing trend, which has grown since government took office in 2015. She said, too, that Felix’s disinterest in having such reports investigated, even after being raised at the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, makes her suspicious.

Gail Teixeira

The illicit movement of Haitians out of the country also correlates with information that Felix supplied to the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs on May 23rd last year which showed that up to April 30th of 2018, 1,238 Haitians had been recorded as arriving in the country but only 85 had been recorded as leaving. Figures for Cubans were also problematic. Up to April 30th of 2018, 22,520 Cubans had been registered as arriving while only 16,350 had been recorded as leaving.

Felix last week said that from his understanding, Haitians who arrive in Guyana are receiving guidance from some of their fellow countrymen, who are already here. “If the people land and those who are here organise to move them from one point to the other, is that smuggling?” he questioned.

Observers have noted that any such movement of foreigners as alluded to by Felix would feature human traffickers, expediters and corrupt lawmen to facilitate the transiting of the visitors to another country.

Based on the information provided to Sunday Stabroek, the Haitians arrived in Guyana legally via the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and then set off on a journey under the cover of darkness, eventually leaving Guyana illegally. This transport is said to be part of a clandestine arrangement, involving persons inside and outside of Guyana, inclusive of some members of the Guyana police, who are allegedly paid money to allow the Haitians through the various checkpoints along the Linden to Lethem trail.  A complaint by the owner of the bus that his vehicle was taken out of zone without his permission had triggered an investigation by the `E’ Division Commander Linden Lord.

“I think we have to be careful with what we are saying. Unless we know the network involved and how they [are] going, we can’t arrive at the conclusion that because some foreigners land in this part of Guyana today, and tomorrow they are in another part, that they are smuggled,” Felix told Sunday Stabroek, before stating that the claim of smuggling should not be excited in the media, given that there is no proof to support it. “We (the media) are carrying the anecdote story as if it’s true,” he added.

Asked if he is not concerned that the Haitians may not be leaving Guyana through legal means, he made it clear that the Guyana’s border is too wide and porous “for you to prevent anybody from leaving at any time.”

The former police commissioner said that while there is an official port at Lethem, persons know how to go around that system. “It is a concern. But what can you do about it? The borders are wide and porous, you stand here at the official port and ten miles down the road people crossing back and forth,” he said.

He added that some people believe that illegal movement can be stopped by the stroke of a pen. “The problem is complex. It is not as easy as the media would like it to be…I would not deny that there is a possibility of some smuggling but what I do know for sure is that the stories of smuggling are anecdotal and nothing to support it,” he said, while noting that in Guyana’s case, it is more likely that relatives here are organizing for the Haitians to reach Brazil and other South American countries where descendants reside.

Felix made it clear that the allegation of bribery is a police matter but said that the

The Route 42 bus on the Linden to Lethem trail. Standing on the road are some of the Haitians watching on as it is maneuvered through a bad section of the trail. It took just over a day for them to reach Lethem.

matter of illegal crossing has been raised with the Brazilian authorities.

 “We are working at various levels to deal with the issue of illegal crossing, both the Brazilians and ours have met at different times and we are discussing the issues. The Brazilians are as concerned as we are [and] I am assuming that they have more resources but it ain’t stopping,” he noted.

Attention

Teixeira chronicled the various attempts she has made to bring attention to the issue in an effort to have government taken the appropriate action.

“We think there are enough signals at the parliamentary sectorial committee …that there was something going on and clearly trafficking was the main concern…” she told Sunday Stabroek, while adding that although the driver’s account was disturbing it was not “entirely surprising.”

Teixeira expressed hope that the government and the relevant authorities will now adopt a serious approach to the situation. “These are persons who are victims. They come to Guyana and they are being exploited. What is clear from the report that you gave is that no one is saying who the trafficker is and naming who are the persons involved in trafficking. The police are clearly involved with fraud and corruption and bribery but clearly someone is moving those people through. The driver is not a Haitian; the driver is a Guyanese. So, clearly, to me, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

Teixeira, who under the PPP administration served as the Minister of Home Affairs and filled in as Foreign Affairs Minister, said that the numbers show those coming into the country and those who are not exiting officially. “So I think the government has been very delinquent and I would hope that this exposé …will get to the bottom of who are the real people behind it,” she added.

She insisted that Felix’s explanation does not hold weight. “No it doesn’t and I think he is trying to be smart and is not succeeding,” she added.

According to Teixeira, the issue facing the Haitians is more trafficking than smuggling and noted that as a former police commissioner Felix cannot be unfamiliar with the law, particularly the Trafficking in Persons Act, which talks about persons who are in some way beholden to the handler, whose passports are held and who are moved at a cost. “This isn’t being done free and clearly. He has shown a disinterest for over a year. As a former Commissioner of Police, as a Minister dealing with immigration and citizenship, he has shown a total disinterest and disregard for investigating this matter. His attitude has always been, ‘Where is the evidence?’ And ‘This is not trafficking.’ It is trafficking. Somebody is arranging…There is legal entry at the airport but who picks them up there and transports them to Lethem and then move across the border? Mr. Felix is being obtuse and he thinks the rest of the Guyanese are too. This is trafficking,” she insisted.

Australia’s Ministry of Home Affairs on its website states that people smuggling is a very different crime from human trafficking. It is explained that “People smuggling is the organised, irregular movement of people across borders on a payment-for-service basis, whereas human trafficking is the physical movement of people domestically or across borders through deceptive means, coercion or force.” The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) provides similar explanations.

Teixeira is not supportive of any move to stop Haitians from coming to Guyana but said that if the government is really concerned about human trafficking, particularly of Haitians or any other nationality, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Citizenship and Public Security must have a coordinated approach, which allows for an investigation and collaboration with the Haitian government. “The two (governments of Guyana and Haiti) must work in tandem to be able to put an end to it because there [are] traffickers at both ends….A serious investigative, coordinated campaign [is needed] to be able to stop people from being victimised in this way,” she said, while adding that INTERPOL can assist in helping to identify the characters involved both in Haiti and in Guyana as well as any handlers in-between.

She does not agree with Haitians being given the same latitude as Venezuelans, given that nationals face different circumstances, which require a different approach.

“They are not synonymous with the Venezuelans, who are simply fleeing across the borders. They are a different groups of people [with] different issues but I wouldn’t like to see as a CARICOM country that we are saying Haitians aren’t to come here. We’re not like that…we fought for the freedom of movement [in the region]” she said, while adding that she wouldn’t want  Guyana to fall into the same category as other CARICOM nations, who have been hostile and unfriendly towards sister nations.

Bribery probe

Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan says that he is awaiting the final report from police on the alleged bribery allegation.

The minibus driver had told this newspaper that ranks at three of the four checkpoints along the trail demanded money from the passengers, whose finances were stretched thin before they made it to Lethem. He claimed that the passengers, who ranged from five to 52 years old, could not afford a proper meal. During the one-day trip, they consumed bread and water and at the last stop before Lethem they replenished their supplies. He claimed that after dropping them off, he was told that the Haitians were to be transported during the wee hours of the morning to Brazil.

Commander Lord had stated that he had collected statements on the bribery allegation from at least six ranks and was to collect several more from the ranks at the Mabura Hill checkpoint. Thereafter, he said, a report would be compiled and sent to the police legal advisor.

Sunday Stabroek was unable to reach Lord for an update but was informed that last Tuesday ranks from Linden took statements from the owner of the minibus and the driver.

Ramjattan said he was stunned by the revelations.” I am surprised that cops are doing these rotten things but they are all humans and of course you have to wait on [the report] because plenty of them sometimes deny too and then it turns out not to be true, that this is all manufactured things. You gotta investigate and get the evidence together. They have a lot of people who love to talk bad things about the cops too,” he added.

In a June 21st, 2019 report, entitled ‘Guyana and the “Camino Viejo,” a deadly passage for expatriates,’ featured a detailed account of the grueling journey of foreign nationals, including Haitians, who have used Guyana as an exit point in South America to get to the United States. The bus driver’s account mirrored the contents of the report, which was released by Spain-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Cuban Prisoners Defenders.

Additionally, Anthony Pantlitz, in a letter published in the May 13th edition to this newspaper, described police shaking down foreigners using the trail. According to him, after an hour-long interview by the police and the intervention of a bus driver, a Cuban woman allegedly paid the police US$150 at the first checkpoint. The same thing happened at the next two checkpoints. He wrote in his letter that in the end the woman paid a total of US$375.