33,000 Haitians ‘missing’

APPROXIMATELY 33,000 Haitians have been reported as “missing” in a three-year period following their arrival in Guyana.
This is according to Minister of Home Affaion Robeson Benn, who told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Monday that there is a strong element of human trafficking related to the Haitians coming here.

“There are 33,000 persons of Haitian citizenship who have come to Guyana over the last three years and 2020; 33,000 of those who arrived are missing; we know that they are not in Guyana. We know that they are reports of them going over the Corentyne River, perhaps to French Guiana, we know that many of them are said to be going to Brazil.

“We understand and we believe that there is a strong element of human trafficking and peoples-smuggling related to this matter,” Minister Benn told reporters.
He said that there are reports of Haitians making attempts to travel through Barbados on smaller aircraft to enter Guyana after a chartered flight with Haitians was barred from entering the country.

“I had refused the landing of a charter [sic] flight surprisingly from The Dominican Republic which consisted of all Haitians. It appears that after that refusal, there have been attempts to come through Barbados on smaller planes and on Caribbean Airlines to come to Guyana and continue what we view as trafficking.”

Minister Benn’s comments come on the heels of 26 Haitians being placed in protective custody after they were intercepted in Georgetown and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) about a week ago.
Even though these 26 nationals have claimed that they entered Guyana legally, Minister Benn said they will likely be deported at the end of the investigation.

“And so the investigations are underway and shortly we anticipate that we will have these people returned to their homes.”
According to Minister Benn, Guyana will have to implement stricter measures, such as a visa system for persons who wish to enter the country.

“We will have to institute a system of visas being issued before any of those persons come to Guyana, to make sure that those who are coming to Guyana are coming for legitimate purposes, he said, adding: “We cannot continue with a situation where a number amounted [sic] to five per cent of our population passes through the country in a few years and disappears.

“There are international implications and other legal issues related to this matter to [sic] which we have to abide and so we are working to that issue to get it resolved.”
The Haitians currently in custody include seven children and it appears as if the children are no relations to the persons they were travelling with.