By Gareth Davis, Gleaner WriterTWENTY-FOUR HAITIAN boat people, men, women, and a six-month-old girl, hungry and dehydrated, landed in eastern Portland, yesterday.
Four more Haitians were rescued by fishermen near the Flamegos Bank, Manchioneal, yesterday, the police said.
Describing their homeland as a crime-ravaged battleground, the group of Haitians, which included an eight-year-old boy and a pregnant woman, said they left Haiti for Jamaica in the dead of night on Friday, after family members and friends were slain.
"They arrived at Ennison Bay Beach, near Hector's River about 6:30 a.m. Sunday," said Inspector Desroy Livingston, who is in charge of the Manchioneal Police Station. "They came onboard a 15-foot paddle boat. They were spotted and taken to shore by local fishermen. We were then called in, and they were first taken to the holding area at the Manchioneal Police Station."
Inspector Livingston said that members of the group were suffer as they had left Haiti without food or water in a hurried attempt to flee the violence occurring there.
"They told us that they came under attack from militants who claimed they were supporters of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide," Inspector Livingston said. "They left everything behind, including a few family members and friends who, they say, were not yet murdered. They were given food by civic groups, local residents and the police."
SCARED TO DEATH
Inspector Livingston said the group stated that some Haitians were being hunted down and slaughtered by militants who branded them as supporters of the overthrown government.
This was the fifth time in less than a month that Haitians who have fled their violence-ravaged homeland have landed in east Portland. The total number of Haitian refugees is now 127, some of whom are housed at various shelters, including the Winnifred Rest Home, the Port Antonio Rehabilitation Centre and the Port Antonio Seventh-Day Adventist Church, all in east Portland. Inspector Livingston said he was uncertain where the newly-arrived group would stay as the three designated centres "could well be overcrowded."
"It is possible that they might be housed on the lawn of the Winnifred Rest Home, as already several tents have been put up to provide living accommodation for any new Haitian arrivals," he added.
This was a premeditated move on the part of the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and other civil society and humanitarian groups."
"They arrived about 12:45 p.m. Sunday," Inspector Livingston said. "Local fishermen were out in their boats fishing when they spotted the boat that had developed mechanical problems. They were afterwards rushed ashore by the fishermen, who have indicated to us that four other Haitians refugees were still on the Flamegos Bank and being fed by them, and that they will be transported to land in a short while."
