Guyana wants US help with deportees
Stabroek News
March 7, 2003
Negotiations are expected to begin shortly between Guyana and the United States of America (USA) on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining the procedures for returning deportees and others from the USA.
The two sides have exchanged drafts and the Guyana government is considering the comments of the US government on the draft it has submitted.
The Guyana government wants included in the MOU an assistance package, which would include help to deportees in resettling and help for the Police in monitoring those deportees it would like to keep under surveillance.
When he met US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage last week at the US State Department, President Bharrat Jagdeo reiterated the request for assistance.
At a press conference last year, Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald said that up to December 15, some 500 deportees had been returned from the US.
He said a number of them were involved in the violent crime spree.
Between January 1 and February 5 this year, according to the police releases sent to the media, 35 deportees arrived here from the United States, Canada, Barbados and French Guiana.
Of these, 31 were from the US and they included 15 who were convicted for narcotics-related crimes.
