MINISTER of Citizenship, Winston Felix, has once again rubbished claims that Haitians are being smuggled and trafficked in Guyana, noting that there is no evidence to support such claims.

Speaking on the issue at the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) weekly press briefing at Congress Place on Friday, the minister said the police have been actively tackling Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and are seeing more results in the past four years than any preceding period.

Notwithstanding the increased TIP reports, of all the cases encountered, thus far, none involved Haitians as victims or perpetrators. Felix explained that foreign nationals involved in TIP are usually of other nationalities.

“The government agencies like the police and narcotics unit are always on the look out to detect trafficking in persons or smuggling. We have not detected Haitians, we have detected other nationalities, we’ve found Venezuelans, those from the Dominican Republic, and majority being Guyanese. We have found those and we’ve published those, but no Haitian has been found. In none of these cases have we found any Haitian being smuggled. Not one being involved in human trafficking neither as a victim or a perpetrator,” Felix explained.

In recent times, the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), and some media houses have been targeting Haitians on the grounds that they are arriving in “large numbers” here, though the facts show that other nationalities account for the majority of the arrivals.

For the first seven months of the year some 8600 Haitians were recorded as arriving in Guyana, however, for the same period, the arrivals of Cubans more than triple that number, while the number of Trinidad and Tobago nationals who came here during that time also out-numbered the Haitian arrival figures.

Jagdeo had accused the government of facilitating a smuggling ring here but Felix said it was under the PPP/C administration that human trafficking was allowed.

“The Guyana Police Force, for 2019, has investigated and charged more cases, around 11 or 13 persons charged, than any other period in the 23-year-old history of the PPP. We have improved the facility of the police to investigate these crimes,” Felix informed.

The “hysteria” surrounding this issue, Felix says, is aimed at disparaging the government.
“The hysteria with which this matter is being dealt with is one I suspect to being aimed at tarnishing the government but the records will reflect that in our investigative work we have not detected any Haitian at this time who has been either a victim or a perpetrator in trafficking in persons or human smuggling,” Felix said.

With Haiti being a member of CARICOM, Haitians are allowed a six-month stay in fellow CARICOM member states, including Guyana. Last July, CARICOM Heads of Government at their 39th Summit in Jamaica, passed an immigration order to allow Haitians an automatic six-month stay in all CARICOM member states.

Haitians can also benefit from the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which allows for the free movement of persons across the Region and removal of work permit for certain categories of persons.

Felix said that many of the Haitians as using Guyana as a transit point to their family in other countries. He said records from Brazil show that majority of the Haitians entered Brazil from Guyana.