Ingratitude at the hilt

Dec 10, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Guyana can be an ungrateful nation. Nothing better exemplifies Guyana’s ingratitude towards outsiders than the practice of the police in charging persons and hauling them before the Courts for overstaying.
Last month, a Cuban national was charged and placed before our Courts for overstaying. He had only been in Guyana for one year and presumably during that period did not apply for an extension of his permit to stay. He was fined $30,000 and most likely deported.
In June 2017, a Cuban was charged for overstaying and fined. He had overstayed his two month initial entry.
In May 2016, another Cuban national was charged and fined $20,000 for a similar offence. He had been originally been granted a one month stay. He was charged a mere two weeks after the expiration of that period and placed before the Courts.
These charges are unnecessary, more so considering the assistance that Cuba has been providing to Guyana over the years. The Cubans deserve to be treated better.
If you take a walk down Regent Street any day, you will find hundreds of Cubans shopping. Cubans are keeping the business sector afloat.
Hundreds of Cubans are coming to Guyana each week, to do their medicals for visas to the United States but mainly to do shopping. If they go elsewhere the business activity will be seriously downgraded in Guyana.
So brisk are Cuban purchases, that most hardware, clothing and electronic stores on Regent Street, including Chinese-owned businesses, have been forced to employ Cubans to help translate for the shop owners and sale staff. The Cubans are generating business for the local commercial sector.
Cubans are also generating business for homeowners and hotels. A number of buildings have been converted to apartments in order to cater for the influx of Cubans who pay decent rentals and give no one problems. This is creating investment in the economy and providing income for property owners.
Cuban workers have begun to be employed in the construction sector because, as is well known, Guyanese carpenters usually work from Tuesday to Saturdays. After they are paid on Saturday, it is hard to get them to turn up for work on Mondays.
The Cubans are prepared to work every day; they provide good quality work at a reasonable price. They are hardworking and reliable and this is why they are being brought to do jobs in the construction sector.
Cubans are working in our hospitals and health clinics. The Cuban government has sent medical teams to Guyana for decades now. Cuba continues to train Guyanese medical students to become doctors, though in smaller numbers than in the past.
Right now, the Cuban government is taking care of Guyana’s President who has been diagnosed with a form of cancer. Medical care in Cuba is free and so President Granger’s medical treatment will not cost the taxpayers a cent.
In light of all of this, the manner in which the police treat Cubans is inconsiderate. Why is it that Guyana feel that it should be hauling Cubans before our Courts to answer immigration charges for overstaying when illegal Guyanese immigrants can be found all over the world.
These Cubans who are arrested and charged for immigration offenses would have been detained in those stinking lockups at the Police Stations and then subjected to the humiliations of being dragged in front of a magistrate to answer charges.
They will then be deported with the risk of never again being able to come back legally to Guyana.
This is not the way we should be treating friends. This should not be the way in which Guyanese should be showing gratitude to the Cubans for all the help they have provided this country over the years. It is ingratitude at its hilt.
The Cubans are not engaged in any major underhand activities in Guyana. They are here to work, get their US medicals done, to shop and to provide medical aid to Guyana.
When the authorities discover Cubans who have overstayed, they should not be hauling them to the police stations and then to the courts. These Cubans should be provided with an opportunity to regularize themselves or to depart voluntarily.
This can also be done for other foreign nationals who have overstayed. Guyana needs to seriously re-examine its immigration policies and take it out of the hands of the police who have a poor understanding of the importance of immigration and diplomacy.