KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government has lifted visa requirements for cricketing countries except Afghanistan before next month’s T20 Cricket World Cup.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves told Parliament during the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies Bill debate that his administration lifted the restrictions on Wednesday but is spending a lot of time “addressing the security question.
“And we are doing so within a regional context and our allies, particularly the United States, Canada, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, because we have to have it safe,” he said.
Gonsalves told legislators that some countries have visa restrictions for some cricketing nations, noting that only Afghanistan passport holders require a visa to enter St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Gonsalves, also Minister of National Security, said the government imposed visa requirements on Nepal and Bangladesh, two cricketing nations, about four weeks ago.
“We had done so in Bulgaria also because there are two aircraft, one coming out of Nigeria and one coming out of Dubai by way of Morocco, that wanted to bring several hundred people here, including a number of Indians.”
He said the passengers were heading to Nicaragua, and the pilots and aircraft were Bulgarians, as was the registration of the aircraft.
Gonsalves said many Nepalese and Bangladeshis were on board, so Kingstown imposed visa restrictions on those countries.
“They were from India, too, but the same week, I saw the Indian ambassador, and we are dealing with that in a different way,” Gonsalves said, adding that on Wednesday, the Cabinet removed the visa restrictions.
“It had a purpose for us to stop any of these people who want to come here, essentially, where some were trafficking — it looks to me as though it was going to be trafficking in persons, looks to us in the security forces.”
Gonsalves said Jamaica had that same problem “with another set of people” recently who landed in the country, and Kingston had to provide hotel accommodation for them.
“We didn’t do that,” Gonsalves said, adding, “We made sure we stopped you in your tracks early, as we have stopped an airline that wanted to come out of Venezuela with some Cubans, using us as a transit to Nicaragua.
“You can’t use our country in that way,” he said, emphasizing that Afghanistan is the only country in the Cricket World Cup for whom Vincentian visas are required.
“All that will happen is that they will get their visas very easily, and the provision is made in the law,” Gonsalves said, noting that there is an advanced passenger information system.
Prime Minister Gonsalves said, referring to the CARICOM agency, “That will be sent. We’ll send it to the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security.”
“The checks will be done, and everybody will be cleared. I don’t think that anybody will have any problems with that. And we’re doing our coordination.”
Gonsalves told Parliament that he received on May 2 a letter from Maurice Edwards, chair of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), indicating that “things are going so well that … the committee isn’t needed anymore because the works are almost completed.”
Prime Minister Gonsalves said two cranes will arrive from Barbados on Friday to erect the floodlights at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.
“Within a few days, the six of those lights should all be up. There’s something to be done at the mound …. They have to put up one of the lights by the mound.”
He said that the government will also install floodlights at the Vincent Beache National Stadium in Diamond, where a football field is located, over the next three months.
“We are very conscious that we have to put an excellent maintenance team in place, including not just the buildings but also the lights, the scoreboards, and all those things. They are high technical stuff, gym equipment,” Gonsalves said.
“We have to make sure, and the National Sports Council has to be restructured, proper maintenance systems, and all the rest of it,” he said, adding that he was glad the bill had received bipartisan support.
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