Tuesday 24th March 2019 — Barbados.       

Trinidad refuses entry to its aged Citizens.

Safe haven in Barbados after Trinis was denied return home, kept in quarantine here….

    Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall, ( pictured at left ) said a decision by Government to allow a plane carrying 35 Trinidadian nationals to land in Barbados on Monday was the humanitarian thing to do.

Noting that Barbados did not have a legal responsibility to the passengers on board, he said Barbados could have denied them landing rights, but it would have meant them returning to England.

Mr. Marshall stressed these points on Monday night, as he sought to explain a decision by Barbados to allow the plane to land at the Grantley Adams International Airport, after being rejected by their government.

Mr. Marshall explained that Barbados had reached out to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to urge them to take their citizens, but the country declined to do so.

“We were faced with a position that really was not difficult and it had to do with the humanitarian nature of it. Things in England had become increasingly worse and they have announced a further degree of lockdown in the UK. These individuals are not elderly, but they are not the youngest. I understand they are in their 60s. We had to make a humanitarian decision, and it was a decision that was based in principle and correct, while ensuring at all times that Barbadians were safe,” the Attorney General stated.

He said that after their arrival in Barbados on Monday evening, the Trinidadian passengers were immediately treated to special protocols, which involved the entire machinery of government, including the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport.

Mr. Marshall said they were screened by Ministry of Health and Wellness officials and immediately placed in mandatory quarantine at their own expense, and not that of the Government of Barbados.

However, the Attorney General sought to assure Barbadian residents that Government remained committed to ensuring their safety at all times.

julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb