The Raphael Lindo story is a Guyanese curse

Sep 23, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Raphael Lindo asked me not to name the international organization he works for because of the nature of his job. But he works for one of the most powerful, respected and prestigious international organizations in the world. Mr. Lindo chose to be named and if the media wants to pursue his story I am available to provide his e-mail address.
A former Queen’s College student, Mr. Lindo comes back to Guyana often when his vacation is due, to do voluntary work at his alma mater and in the field of education. He is very active in diaspora functions. Here is Mr. Lindo’s account of his fate at the Timehri airport as he was leaving for home in New York. A Fly Jamaica agent came up to him, requested to see his passport and do a search. As she was going through his luggage, she asked that he check in his carry-on piece as luggage. He told her it has two small items inside, his IPOD and some mittai (the Hindu confectionary). She insisted. He refused.
Just then, a young man came up, the Fly Jamaica agent stepped aside and he announced, “Narcotics Agent.” He had no name tag. He asked for the passport which was left by the Fly Jamaica agent on the counter. The drug agent took his passport and asked where he worked. He directed him to the passport. He picked it up, read the words, “international civil” servant, then said; “Ya’ll must get plenty vacation cause like you does travel often.” An exchange resulted in the drug agent insulting Mr. Lindo about his international status.
Back in New York, Lindo wrote a complaint to Fly Jamaica. CEO (ag), Aneka Edwards, replied regretting the incident and requested a description of the clothes Lindo was wearing that day. Photographs to that effect were sent to Ms. Edwards. In a subsequent letter to Lindo, Edwards informed him that the video Fly Jamaica received was inadequate to allow them to identify who the drug agent was. But Lindo is not satisfied. He insisted that Fly Jamaica must know his identity.
He wrote to me to say that he doesn’t accept the video explanation but even if the video didn’t identify the drug agent then the Fly Jamaica personnel had to know who he was because she moved aside and let him take over. Is Fly Jamaica telling us that a man could come up to its employee, say he is a narcotics agent, take over a search and the Fly Jamaica official does not know if in fact he is an agent? This man had to be an authorized person because he was in a security section of the airport conducting a search.
The video footage situation has become a dangerous game at the Timehri Airport. First, a woman gave an immigration officer her passport as she was clearing immigration to leave. The officer claimed he lost it. The surveillance camera did not capture the movement of the officer. It had to pick up his movements because the cameras cover the entire immigration area. The cameras had to pick up Mr. Lindo in conversation with the drug agent as his passport was being examined.
Nothing ever came out of that missing passport incident. That woman may never come back. And she was probably resigned to the reality that if she sued she will die before the case is heard. The Ministers under whose jurisdiction security falls never uttered a word of explanation to the nation about this dreadful incident. I feel deep down in my heart that even if a country is in a civil war, a departing person of no interest to state security would not lose his passport in such a manner. This was no accident. This was no mistake. That woman’s passport was stolen.
The Raphael Lindo drama is important. This man holds an important job as an international civil servant. And look how he was treated. Would they have done that to a White man dressed up in suit and tie holding the same position in an international organization like Lindo’s? Fly Jamaica has told Mr. Lindo that he was their passenger and therefore they are concerned about how he was treated. But the man was insulted by a Guyanese security official.
Why should Fly Jamaica take it any further? In any case, the video footage was not given in its entirety to Fly Jamaica. Fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, ten, five, two years ago we heard awful stories similar to what Lindo recounted. It will never stop because this land is cursed.

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The Raphael Lindo story is a Guyanese curse

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