BREAKING: Guyana bans Haitian Nationals from entry until further notice

Guyana has placed an immediate ban on Haitian Nationals coming to this country. The ban takes immediate effect and was communicated to Commissioner of Police Nigel Hoppie by Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn early Tuesday Morning, May 25, 2021.

Haiti, as well as Guyana, are both Member States of CARICOM, the grouping of companies that make up the Caribbean Community.

It is unclear what is the reason behind the governmental ban at this time but according to what this publication was told, the instructions which the minister communicated to the Commissioner of Police was to be passed onto the Deputy Immigration Officer while the government was moving to inform airlines of Guyana’s position on Haitians coming into this country.

Last year, several Haitians including children were picked up by local law enforcement and taken to the Hugo Chavez Center in Region Five after the government claimed that they were victims of trafficking.

The Government back then arrived at the conclusion after claiming that the nationals who arrived here all provided the same address as their place of abode while in Guyana and that they were also children among the lot who were traveling without their parents.

The matter was taken to court and the government subsequently released the nationals. The court had ruled that the move by the government to have the Haitians deported and their detention were unlawful.

BIG Smith News Watch has been informed that on Monday, seventeen Haitian Nationals were placed into a holding facility at Ogle airport which has since been described by sources as inhumane. We were told that the nationals were placed in a small concrete room with no beds or anything to eat or drink. It was later in the day that the facility was outfitted with beds, fans and mattresses.

Today numerous efforts to clarify from Commissioner of Police Nigel Hoppie and Minister of Home Affairs the Government’s and the Central Immigration Department’s position on this new posture have been futile.

Calls to Minister Benn’s phone went unanswered while Commissioner of Police Hoppie in answering our call earlier said he was taking a vaccine. He promised to get back to us but didn’t, subsequent calls to his phone went unanswered.