March 26, 2020

Jamaicans Stranded And Homeless In Barbados

By Newsroom

Two Jamaican men are sleeping on the floor at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados since Monday night. And have run out of money for food. Miguel Bailey and Lendert Pearson are among 51 Jamaicans, including students of the Cave Hill campus of The University of the West Indies, unable to leave the Eastern Caribbean islands of Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, and Barbados after Caribbean Airlines cancelled their flights to Jamaica on Monday, according to a report in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. Bailey and Pearson, who are clothing traders, said that they had been in St Lucia since February, and that representatives of Caribbean Airlines  contacted them to head to Barbados to catch their flight, which was scheduled to depart at 7:15 p.m. on Monday, March 23. By the time they reached Barbados, they were informed that their flight had been cancelled because of the border closure. The Jamaican Government ordered the country’s airports and seaports  closed at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. Exemptions were given for certain categories of Jamaicans up to March 24. Jamaica’s honorary consul in Barbados, Ella Hoyos, said that efforts to get Caribbean Airlines executives to arrange a flight proved futile as the application was denied. The absence of flights to take home the Jamaicans has affected students at the UWI, Cave Hill.
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