Yesterday, while Belizeans and tourists were enjoying the Boxing Day Holiday, a group of 10 visitors from Haiti had to spend several hours on lockdown at the holding cell in the Ladyville Police Station.
That's because the authorities at the Immigration Department were concerned that they were suspicious travelers. Their attorney Arthur Saldivar insists that they are legitimate travelers and should have been treated as such because they had documentary proof. But, the immigration authorities took no chances when their flight landed at the PGIA yesterday evening. They immediately requested that Ladyville Police take over custody.
This morning, our news team found them in lockdown at the Ladyville Police Station, and we spoke to their attorney about what he insisted was unfair treatment of legitimate tourism guests. Here are those comments:
Arthur Saldivar - Attorney for Haitian Travelers
"These persons, who are my clients, landed in Belize on a flight at the Airport, the PGIA, sometime around 6:30 yesterday evening. They were not interviewed upon landing by Immigration. Their documents were taken. Their documents would have revealed that they have met all the requirements, having their return tickets, having money to spend, and having reservations at local hotels."
"They are students, a number of them. Others are professionals, and they have not even been allowed to eat. One of my clients is going through her cycle as a female and has not been allowed to change. This is inhumane, the treatment that has been meted out to them. On what basis are they being considered suspicious travelers by three junior officers?"
"My understanding of things is that only these junior officers dealt with these people and brought them here arbitrarily, and in that regard, their human rights and their constitutional rights have been violated. We have women, young women, who have committed no crime at all, locked up and being made to suffer indignity here in our country as CARICOM Nationals. Daniel, I know that I and many others have traveled throughout CARICOM. We have never been given this kind of treatment when we land at our sister country's port of entry. For us now, as Belizeans, who require the support of CARICOM in our plight, to do this on our own."
Daniel Ortiz
"So, in your mind, these individuals are legitimate travelers that should be treated as such."
Arthur Saldivar
"I believe that any person who comes by legal means to your country and enters at an official port of entry should be treated with respect and dignity until they prove otherwise."
Daniel Ortiz
"The same principle of innocence until proven guilty."
Arthur Saldivar
"Of course, due process is what we're about. None of us are Nostradamus. We do not know what people will do, and certainly, if they intend on breaking the law, and breaking the law, then - and only then - should you ever have a right to do what has been done. These people have not shown that they have that propensity."
We also challenged Saldivar on the possibility that his clients were attempting to use Belize as a transit point, a challenge that the Immigration Department has had to guard against very recently. He insisted that based on all the evidence that he has seen, they more than qualify for the requirements to visit Belize as guests:
Daniel Ortiz
"The Immigration Department has had recent experiences where travelers come on - I think one of those specific flights, the COPA Flight. And I understand the Immigration Minister to say that.persons are brought to Belize, and they become Belize's problem. Is there any possibility that your clients could fall into that category?"
Arthur Saldivar - Attorney for Haitian Travelers
"I would not know. Listen, we know that there's hardship around the world, especially in our part of the world. It was not too long ago that there was a caravan that I believe started somewhere in El Salvador and made its way all the way up to the United States Borders. Some said it was legitimate; some say it wasn't. But we do know that we have people in our region who are suffering, and look at the United States, however rightly or wrongly, as a basis for salvation and betterment. I cannot say that my clients now fill that bill."
Daniel Ortiz
"But they look like legitimate travelers."
Arthur Saldivar
"From all indications, from what I have been told, and from what I have been able to see. They are legitimate. They fulfill our requirements in the least. I don't believe that without more, they could be viewed as anything else but legitimate tourists to our country. And for the treatment they received opens us as a nation to legal action."
This evening, we spoke with Saldivar, and he told us that after his intervention and discussions between his clients and the authorities at Immigration, they were released from custody and allowed to enter the country as they intended to when they arrived last night.
Email
Print