Guyanese Muslim barred from entering Jamaica for Louis Farrakhan event

Last Updated on Sunday, 19 October 2014, 1:36 by GxMedia

A Guyanese Muslim, who was on his way to Jamaica to participate in Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March on Monday, said he was ordered off a flight in Antigua because authorities in Jamaica have refused him permission to land.

Gerald Perreira, who is the Chairman of the little known Black Consciousness Movement Guyana (BCMG), hinted that he would be lodging a complaint with the Guyana government and taking legal action against the Jamaican government. “We are going to move forward on this. We are going to take it step by step until it reaches the Caribbean Court of Justice because I’m a citizen of Caricom (Caribbean Community),” he told Caribbean News Desk. “It goes against the grain of the Treaty of Chaguaramas because as a Caricom national they cannot prevent me from travelling because where does this stop.”

He said when the Caribbean Airlines (CAL) flight landed at the VC Bird International Airport on Friday; an airline representative boarded the aircraft, went directly to him and asked him to disembark with his hand luggage.

Perreira is the second Caribbean national to have been denied entry to Jamaica for the Million Man March scheduled for October 20, the first having been Trinidad and Tobago’s former coup leader, Imam Abu Bakr.  While one of Bakr’s  wives and a son were eventually allowed entry, Jamaican authorities hired a private jet for US$36,000 to return him to Trinidad in the company of security officials.

The BCMG Chairman, who is harsh critic of Western Nations and a staunch advocate for independence and self-determination, accused the United States (US) of pressuring Jamaica to prevent certain persons from entering that Caribbean island. “I’m of the firm opinion that it is the US State Department that gave the Jamaicans directives and I am not saying that the Prime Minister of Jamaica is aware of it or unaware,” he said. He contended that the US was trying to prevent the emergence of mass-based Black movement in the Caribbean that would form ties with its American brothers and sisters.

Labeling many Caribbean politicians in and out of government as “yard fowl,” Perreira blamed  them for being fearful to stand up to “White people” because they were fearful of losing their visas.

He believed that he was targeted because of his extensive writings against US foreign policy around the world including Washington’s alleged collaboration and arming of groups that are today wreaking havoc in Syria, Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Asked whether security fears were justifiable in light of the acts of Islamic groups around the world, Perreira said he has never advocated violence and extremist groups like ISIS, Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda.

Perreira said that he was part of a regional think-tank that has been set up to plan for the 19^th anniversary of the Million Man March.