Guyana Marriott apologies to black community; withdraws offensive map

AN APOLOGETIC BOSS: Hotel Manager Eduardo Reple

Racist, disrespectful, distasteful, stereotype, Inflammatory and divisive are just some of the words used by Guyanese to a map which the Guyana Marriott circulated to its staff advising them not to go into certain communities during Guyana’s elections period. The communities identified are occupied predominately by Guyanese of African descent even as there are persons of other ethnicities living there. The public backlash over the issuance of the map which has made it’s way to social media sent the hotel’s management buckling under pressure by withdrawing the map and apologizing to the black community.

The map which has offended Guyanese of African Descent

BIG Smith News Watch reached out to the hotel where one of the staff first hung up the phone. We then returned the call, again identified the agency we were calling from, indicated what we were calling about and then inform the staff that the conversation was being recorded for ‘for the records’ our call was then entertained and after several transfers to various persons, we later received a call from the General Manager of the hotel who identified himself as Eduardo Reple. He did admit that the map in circulation is authentic and that the hotel did issue a number of copies to the guests.

“We have retracted it already, we did that earlier today around lunch, of course, it is not our intentions to offend any ethnic group we believe that we need to surpass differences, but in this case, if we have offended someone, I would like to apologize in the name of hotel, my intentions were never to put anything into a racists my intentions were only to inform guests of taking care of their safety” Eduardo Reple noted.

This publication grilled the Brazilian national over the decision to issue such a map which in addition to pointing out that guests should not go in the vicinity of the Guyana Elections Commission, they should also stay away from communities such as Sophia, Rosemary Lane (Tiger Bay), Stabroek Market, Albouystown and Agricola.

While the Stabroek Market is traversed by persons of all diversities and the communities identified on the map have a mixture of ethnicities living there, the majority of persons who dwell in those areas, especially the communities identified on the Map issued by Marriot, is occupied by afro Guyanese.

The general manager said that they received the map from an organization called Overseas Advisory Council- OSAC, an organization out of the United States Department that looks into the security interests of US Citizens in foreign territories.

“This organization is recognized by the US Embassy, usually they have monthly meetings to discuss the security of places where the US Embassy has a presence. There was a meeting and this map was disclosed saying that these use to be areas that had conflicts in the past and they are concerned about it.” Eduardo stated.

He said that it is their duty as hotel operators to inform guests of potential threats and that is why the information has been disclosed to our guests.

Asked if the hotel contacted any local agencies including the Guyana Police Force for advice before issuing the map to its guests, the hotel manager responded in the negative but was quick to point out that on numerous occasions they have raised security concerns with the Guyana Police Force but those engagements with the police force, nothing has been done. When he was asked to cite specific cases he declined.

“This has nothing to do with afro descendants, we treat everybody equal, we don’t discriminate and I think somebody may have gotten offended and the reality is we don’t know which areas are occupied by afro decedents or Indian descendants, we took the information based on OSAC and distributed it to our guests” stated the hotel executive.

He said that in his country (Brazil) they do not have racial differences but they do have differences in opinions.

The map which has been making the rounds on social media has gotten the attention of a number of Guyanese who have denounced its issuance to the hotel’s guests. While some persons blasted the hotel for the map, others were contending that the map was fake.

The map has also gotten the attention of a number of candidates to the polls. Guyanese will be heading to the polls on Monday, March 02, 2020, in what is being termed the mother of all elections. Already there have been several incidents of confrontation between supporters of the two major political factions contesting the polls; PPP and APNU. The map issued by the hotel did not help in defusing the already tense environment between opposing supporters heading to the polls.