“Why do you have us locked out of the country? People can go to the US and we can’t get back home”
Foreign Affairs minister says govt working on a solution
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A Bahamian citizen and two other men, including a permanent resident of 16 years, said yesterday they feel abandoned by the government of The Bahamas after traveling to Haiti in March and being unable to return due to an ongoing travel ban.
Bahamian Deangelo Cooper, 34, who works for a private security firm, said he’s unsure about his job status, having been unable to report for work in over four months.
He traveled to Haiti via Turks and Caicos for vacation.
Asked whether he had considered traveling to the US and then onto The Bahamas, Cooper said he does not possess a US visa to do so.
“I am trying to survive, trying to cope,” said Cooper, who has been staying with friends in Port-au-Prince.
“I don’t speak no Creole. So, I have to learn Creole so I can try and communicate so I can eat.
“People out of the country send me money when they can and that ain’t every day.
“I was doing security home and [I] used to do concerts and parties and so on.
“…At the moment, I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“Why do you have us locked out of the country? Everybody else can travel except us. People can go to the US, and we can’t get back home. I feel abandoned.”
A travel ban on Haiti was issued in mid-February for 21 days.
The ban has been extended several more times since then.
Following the ban, Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield said the government was concerned citizens traveling from Haiti could pose a greater risk of spread of the virus, especially as Haiti had yet to implement a vaccination program.
Haiti began its vaccination program in recent weeks.
Of Haiti’s 12 million population, around 12,000 have been vaccinated.
When contacted yesterday, Henfield said the government had been concerned about verifying COVID tests from Haiti, but he believes the matter has been resolved.
He the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to find a way to get Bahamians and others who reside in The Bahamas to return to the country.
He was unable to provide a timeline.
Henfield said: “We’re right where we were in the beginning, but we were working in the ministry and with the Ministry of Health to make special efforts to try and get those people who have documents [who] are normally resident in The Bahamas, to return to the country.”
Meanwhile, Guy Cherubin, a permanent resident and businessman, said he traveled to Haiti on March 23 to set up a company.
He said being stranded has strained his family and his construction company.
“With the ban decision, I cannot understand it as you have huge countries, superpower countries [such as] France, Canada and the US that do not have a ban of Haiti,” Cherubin said.
“Those countries are accepting coronavirus tests from Haiti.”
Cherubin said his daughter visited The Bahamas from Ohio, but he was unable to be with her.
He also said he missed out on two construction projects after he could not follow up on his bids.
“I was called but because I could not be there physically, I was unable to get those projects.
“I feel abandoned.”
He urged the government to move swiftly to get them home.
Benjamin Pierre, 48, who own two barbershops in The Bahamas, traveled to Haiti on March 21 to bury his nephew.
“I went to the Bahamian embassy in Haiti before it closed because of the assassination and I explained my situation,” he said.
“I sent my documents and I haven’t heard anything. I cut Minister Marvin Dames’ hair. I am his barber.
“My shops are suffering. I have a lot of customers but because I am not there, nothing can happen. I am fighting to pay the bills and there is nothing I can do.”
Mikerny Dorce, a Haitian national who has a Bahamian spousal permit that will expire this month, said he is worried about having to start over and being stuck in Haiti indefinitely.
Dorce traveled to Haiti to visit his three children in March.
He lost his job in May at Baker’s Bay due to his inability to return to work, he claimed.
He said: “You already have a stagnated system with immigration. I don’t know about my status and what’s going to happen after it expires.”
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