No visas for Haitians in Barbados waiting to come to Guyana – Benn

After examining documents which were found to be fake, the Government of Guyana will not be issuing visas to Haitian nationals who have been in Barbados for over two months waiting to enter Guyana.

When asked by reporters on Friday if the government has considered granting visas to the Haitian nationals, Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn responded by saying “we will not.”

He was at the time speaking on the sidelines of an event at the Guyana Coast Guard Training Facility, Kingston, Georgetown.

“Their bona fides are fake and that’s simply the issue,” Benn said.

The Barbados TODAY had reported that 33 Haitian nationals had arrived in Barbados on February 20, 2022, in hopes of securing visas to travel to Guyana through a “travel agency” by the name MPH.

According to an April 27, 2022 article, the Haitians paid some US$4,500 to persons in Haiti, who they accused of lying to them about the terms and conditions of the journey, to facilitate their travels.

However, Benn said that there has been no application for visas and neither has anyone purporting to represent the Haitians approached the authorities in Guyana.

“The bona fides we have seen are fake, there are ID cards for Brazil which are not legal and there are also other documents which we have seen which are fake,” Benn said.

Benn said that the government is working with the Barbadian authorities to deal with the matter.

“We are working with the Barbadian authorities to check with them in relation to some other aspects relating to this activity which has been ongoing for a while.”