Haitian boat people to be sent home

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com

Saturday, March 27, 2010

JAMAICA will be repatriating the 62 Haitian boat people who arrived in two fishing boats on the island's east coast on Tuesday. Daryl Vaz, the Government's chief spokesman, told reporters Thursday at a press briefing at Jamaica House in the nation's capital, Kingston, that plans were being made to have the Haitians sent home within a few weeks.

Three of the 62 Haitians, who are said to be prison escapees, are to be returned to police in their country.

Days after the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left a trail of destruction in the impoverished French-speaking Caribbean island, Jamaica had promised to land Haitians fleeing their country and care for them until conditions had improved in their homeland.

However, the Jamaican Government, faced with several economic challenges of its own, is now singing a different song.

Vaz, the Cabinet minister without portfolio with responsibility for information, said Thursday that the country will not be able to host the asylum seekers for any extended period of time.

"Jamaica is facing its challenges like the rest of the world...," Vaz told reporters. He cited financial constraints as one of the reasons for the decision, noting that it would cost Jamaica $9 million to host the Haitians for one week, as well as transportation cost to return them home.

"We are cognisant of all of the challenges people are facing in Haiti, but we have to be responsible in terms of our responsibility to our Jamaican people," said Vaz. "(With) the times and the situation that we are facing, it is difficult for us to continue spending funds that we could be spending here on very essential services."

In the meantime, the Port Antonio Seventh-Day Adventist Church, where the Haitians are now being housed, has agreed to allow the displaced Haitians to stay there for two-and-a-half weeks.

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COMMENTS (9)

carl williams
3/28/2010

Hey Kevin Brown, Keep your mouth on pause.
The government is doing the right and proper thing, SEND THEM HOME .In case you are blind to the plight and suffering of our own Jamaican people, please take a walk to riverton city or downtown kingston..At riverton city, there are people living off the garbage of that landfill.
This is where the government should focus, not taking care of Haitians who have no love or alligience to Jamaica..Might I remind you that some of the guns being sent to murder Jamaicans are from your haiti..where is their love towards Jamaicans when Jamaican blood flows in the street? There are no haitians being murdered in the streets of haiti by guns shipped from Jamaica..
I am all about helping, but I am also about keeping our shores free of refugees and criminals..This "black brother " issue is silly and has no merit..We are a poor country and a soverign one too. Its about time we do something for our black people in Jamaica who has suffered beyond belief ..That is where your concern should be..If you are not into putting the Jamaican people first , then may I suggest hitching a ride on the boat back to Haiti

Kevin Brown
3/27/2010

I'm so disappointed in the Governments decision to return these Haitians to there country. A country that is still in tatters after the quake! Is this how a people [Jamaicans] who claim to be Christians behave. is this how we treat our neighbours? I'm so disgusted by the comments made so far on this page. Have we forgotten how the Haitian revolution inspired our own fight for freedom from enslavement. Despite Jamaica's economic problems we most never turn our back on people in need. These are our own Black brothers and sisters, lets help them as much as we can. Tomorrow it could be us [Jamaicans] who need another a country to take us in after our country has been affected by disaster. Lets not forget Jamaica is also vulnerable to earthquakes. The Churches need to do more for these people NOW!!!

tina chambers
3/27/2010

well..i remember when i went to Cayman in the early 90s , they just ask me a few simple questions which i answered correctly...and wthout leaving the airport they sent me back home on the next flight...i ask them why they were sending me back and they did not give a reason...so nothing is wrong in sending them home

carl williams
3/27/2010

Lets see if they will stick to their word and put the intrest of teh Jamaican people first.Send them all home and pay some serious attention to the suffering people of Jamaica...Just remember that Jamaicans have no friends anywhere, except when other want to use us for their own purpose..

Elli Deedo
3/27/2010

Very good move Mr. Vaz. We have done a lot to assist them. We've being assisting Hatians long before the Quake, it's time to say good bye. we have our people to see about. A few of my Cyber friends did not agree with my comment on this issue. Any well informed Jamaican who are living out there or here in fireign, should know that we've helped a lot...and we are not un-kind, as some would say. Some is wanted by the police in Haiti..their Character must also be taken into serious consideration.
We have enough Criminals roaming the streets already, to add to this would be more than a desaster for us. Seems like some of us love to see a lot of people sleeping on the side walks, that's not good for us at all!! This will make us look extra Poverty. Let's hope they will be transported back as quick as possible.. an that it will serve as a lesson to those who are planning to come. Hope they will try CUBA, there is better to go and is very close to them. just don't know what they take this thing for!! according to the Dj, a weh uno tek dis ting fa!!!

Beresford Davidson
3/27/2010

I say let them stay! Bruce send them to Trench Town, my town. We will take care of them. They are not bad people. Haitians can build harmony wherever they strive to make a living for their families back home.

Lu Pa
3/27/2010

The Government made the right decision, $9 mil per wk is monies that can be spend gretting jobs for our young people.
Don't forget that Haiti now have hundred of millions of U.S dollars at their disposal to rebuild, we also do want to encourage the 7,000 escapees harden criminals, murderers and rapist to head for Jamaica, the U.S don't want them, we are all willing to help them in their own country they don't need to be in Jamaica to get the best help.

mike beckles
3/27/2010

Yesterday I berated the Bruce Golding Administration for what seemed to be an incoherent Policy regarding the Haitian situation, the Jamaican people have been more than gracious , giving and accommodating toward their brothers and sisters in Haiti,however we have monumental problems of our own, we cannot help to the detriment of our own people whom are indeed suffering.
With that said it is prudent Policy to take the people in, feed them, give them medical care, then return them to their homeland, failure to do this would lead to serious unforeseen consequences down the road as it regard crime, economic, and cultural concerns, we can ill afford to take in ,more Haitians on top of the others that we have already allowed in over the years, some of whom are part of the destabilizing effect on our small Country.
Today I read that the Policy is one that comports with the view I outlined yesterday , I am happy to see that common sense has prevailed, this will leave us in a position to maintain our own economy so that in the event of another calamity , we will be in a position to lend a hand .
Good decision Bruce Golding, now I hope to see other common sense decisions applied to other sectors of Jamaican life, Governing is really simple.

george watson
3/27/2010

Good! This is just another flip flop though of a government who hasn't got a clue. A few weeks ago they would accept the Haitians without question. Today the economic constraints don't make this possible. I thought they inherited the economic constraints. Don't bank on what they say. The days when the PNP were accused of being an incompetent government seem so far away.

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Haitian boat people to be sent home