THE INVISIBLE CAGE: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO CITIZENS LOCKED OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY. THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS FOR GOD’S SAKE! BRING THEM HOME, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO!
(This article was first published on August 23, 2020.)
I’m grateful that we were able to spend time with our loved ones yesterday. My aunt and my cousin have been stranded in NY for six months now. They are among the hundreds, thousands who have no idea when they will be able to return to their families in Trinidad as the TT government continues to play with their lives and mental health. What should be a time of celebrating festivals with their family in an atmosphere of peace, love, joy and togetherness, there are 2,000 miles and a “closed border” (except for the prejudiced entries permitted) preventing them from doing that.
There is still no clear tally of exactly how many TT citizens are stranded abroad at this time and across how many countries. There has been no national plan for capturing this data, providing financial assistance, and repatriating citizens to Trinidad and Tobago. Calls to the NY consulate go unanswered. Repeated emails to the TT government by those exiled are ignored. The TT government’s convenient excuse for its dearth of action and consistent rejection of pleas by its exiled citizens to return home? The country will import COVID-19 from these exiled citizens. Even though there’s NOT been a SINGLE positive case of COVID-19 from the most recent of those citizens who managed to return to Trinidad after much personal hardship and great expense.
Too many of those fortunate to have their regular lives and be with their families in Trinidad have been consistently unkind through pernicious statements about those stranded abroad. The effect of the fires of prejudiced speech being fanned by an uncaring government and narcissistic politicians. Those fortunate to be with their families in Trinidad and comfortable in their armchairs and armed with keyboards tell us to shut our mouths, that we should not have a say in their matters.
Well, who’s taking care of the citizens stranded abroad? Are you? Is the TT government? Who’s helping them to survive here? Are you? Is the government? Soon the weather will change here. The days will gradually become colder and colder until it freezes here. Their needs will change. Warmer clothing. The risk of becoming sick from weakened immune systems as our regular flu season kicks in. Who will help them with medical attention, bills and medicines here? Will you? The government? What has been and will be your role, the government’s role in seeking their wellbeing?
Which of you has ever been forced to stay away from your spouses, children, parents, with no hope, rapidly dwindling funds, imminent eviction, and not the vaguest notion of when you’d be able to return to your home again? It’s easy to just speak about and judge something you’ve not experienced yourself, isn’t it?
And of those who’ve experienced the hardship of being exiled abroad and have returned home safely, where are your united voices and feet on the ground for your fellow countrymen who are still faced with the fatigue and suffering you faced in various countries?
These are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who did nothing wrong but got caught in a horrific global pandemic, and in the games that self-serving politicians play, and are still locked out of their country and are being forcibly held in invisible cages by the TT government with the TT government holding the keys for their release. These are people. Human beings for God’s sake. It could have happened to any one of us. Any one of you. Where are the protests, the urgent voices, the repeated calls to the government to have a heart and bring these citizens back home to their families? They’ve been living here for at least six months and haven’t contracted COVID in all this time. Do you honestly believe that they will suddenly infest the island with the virus? Is there any evidence to support this claim? Or are they just noxious ramblings by idle minds and loose tongues? The TT government’s negligence to secure its borders and protect its citizens already accomplished that. Your anger is misplaced. Your borders aren’t closed. Your airport is closed except for those elevated to positions of privilege (most likely because of familial ties or economic advantage) by an unfeeling, unsympathetic, unjust government.
No citizen should have to hire a lawyer to get a response from its own government or for the right to return to their own home. Not many have that financial capacity anyway right now. And will they suffer repercussions from an already unhinged government?
Find your hearts, TT. Find your voices. Step in another’s shoes for even a moment and feel their pain and suffering. Tell the TT government to bring its citizens home!