Haitian Nationals Detained Overnight, Allowed to Enter Belize
A group of ten Haitians was officially allowed to enter the country today after they were flagged by immigration officers at the Philip Goldson International Airport. They entered the country on Monday night, via a Tropic Air international flight, and were taken into custody until this morning when they were processed and released. Among the many issues was the fact that most of the travellers did not have reservations at any hotel and so it raised eyebrows because human smuggling remains a huge concern within the region. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
There has been a longstanding issue of human smuggling within the region – one which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of and has been working to address as there have been increasing attempts to use Belize as a transit with the final destination being the United States. It is not limited to migrant nationals from Central America, but persons from as far as Nigeria, Morocco, Cuba and elsewhere who have been denied access to enter Belize and have been returned to their countries of origin. Back in June, the Government of Belize set in place a policy barring Haitian nationals from entering the country.
Eamon Courtenay
[File: June 16th, 2022] Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“The corrupt and abusive mafia that is using chartered flights out of Haiti to smuggle Haitians. We have taken a decision this week, and I informed Cabinet yesterday that we have requests over the next six weeks for a number of flights to come as charter [from] Haiti [to] Belize. In collaboration with [the Department of] Civil Aviation, we are not going to allow them to land, and if we have to reverse the provision of Haitians coming into Belize without a visa, we are going to do so. Why? Because these people are abused by smugglers, they are trafficked by smugglers and we will not allow it to happen through Belize as long as we can stop it.”
…that was for chartered flights coming out of Haiti and an effort to intercept any smuggling attempts. On a weekly basis, immigration officers at the Philip Goldson International Airport have been tackling these kinds of activities and on Monday night, ten Haitian nationals were denied entry into the country. They arrived in Belize via a Tropic Air international flight from El Salvador. Their journey began in Haiti on December twenty-fourth. That trip took them to the Dominican Republic and El Salvador before getting to Belize.
Arthur Saldivar
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney-at-law
“About six-thirty p.m., a number of persons from the CARICOM nation of Haiti came to Belize as tourists with everything to fulfil the requirements to be landed. Unfortunately for them when they landed, instead of being processed and allowed to enter as any other tourist would have been allowed, they were taken to Ladyville and lockdown in a piss house condition – without water, without food and not even an explanation as to why they were being detained.”
They were detained overnight inside the holding cell at the Ladyville Police Station. It’s an experience that twenty-seven-year-old Natacha Joseph says she did not expect.
Natacha Joseph
Natacha Joseph, Haitian National
“I had the great idea to come here because I hear that you could come as Haitian without visa. So I wanted to come, but actually it was a nightmare. It was the worst nightmare ever. I cried every night because I was put in jail. I didn’t know why. I was asking why I was in jail; I have everything right. I wouldn’t like other people to get the same treatment. I am not going to say racist, but I can see that they do that to the black people. Actually all white people dint have any problem. But with us, Haitians, they were like just get away from me, I want to check your ticket; I just say you don’t have that, not confirming anything and that was very hard for us. I was alone, but I found them and they treat them all the same. All the Haitian they treat them the same way, like very badly, like worse than a dog.”
Also among the group was Dorval Yovenson, who was travelling with a card saying that he has permanent residency in Brazil. While their documents appear to be legit, they interestingly had no reservations. It’s a red flag for immigration officials, but attorney Arthur Saldivar says discriminates against tourists.
Arthur Saldivar
“Immigration department is saying that they want to see a paid reservation at the hotel. Now we all travel and sometimes we use Expedia, we use Kayak, we used Booking.com, Priceline, whichever one you use to make your reservations, once those reservations are confirmed using the information you give them from whatever card or payment method you are going to utilize, it is really and truly not until you enter the door of the hotel that that is actually charged in most cases. But there is nothing in the law that makes this a requirement for anybody travelling to Belize. I do not know of any North American – whether from the United States or Canada – or any European that is being made to do this. Certainly, no Central American; in fact, most of the Central Americans who don’t come through our official borders come through the porous ones.”
This morning, Joseph and Yovenson along with Edeline Dameus, Stessy Beauvil, Jean Remy, Honny Fabrine, Roberson Louis, Johanne Lundy and Raulna Francois were taken back to the P.G.I.A. where their documents were processed and they were officially allowed to enter the country.
Natacha Joseph
“I’m just asking for the director or anyone superior to work on that so they can give a better service because if we have everything, we shouldn’t be going through this – it’s very traumatise.”
Arthur Saldivar
“I just don’t appreciate the idea that we are discriminating against our CARICOM sisters and brothers.”
Joseph, along with several others, has expressed that they want legal action for the human rights violation that they had to endure. Duane Moody for News Five.
