Haitian football team expelled from Jamaica?

Last April I arrived in Jamaica (MBJ) and on the entry visa I noted that I had been in the DR a couple of weeks prior. I was segregated from the other passengers and sent for an interview with the environmental health representative who subjected me to a detailed questionaire and given a health watch card. She explained that dengue fever was a major concern in Jamaica and everyone coming from Hispaniola in the past 60 days was subjected to the same treatment.

I thought this was pretty strange. I hadn't experienced a single mosquito bite in either country. The other strange thing that happened at that airport was that they confiscated my bic lighter but let me keep my telescoping rod and fishing tackle with my carry-on. The folks who think that Dominican authorities are laughable should travel around the region more. Nothing that anyone in a uniform at MBJ said made any sense or followed and particular logic. They just do what they're told and look at the rest of us as if it's not supposed to make sense.

Thousands of Haitians have died from cholera and they're looking for dengue fever.....

greydread said:

Last April I arrived in Jamaica (MBJ) and on the entry visa I noted that I had been in the DR a couple of weeks prior. I was segregated from the other passengers and sent for an interview with the environmental health representative who subjected me to a detailed questionaire and given a health watch card. She explained that dengue fever was a major concern in Jamaica and everyone coming from Hispaniola in the past 60 days was subjected to the same treatment.

I thought this was pretty strange. I hadn't experienced a single mosquito bite in either country. The other strange thing that happened at that airport was that they confiscated my bic lighter but let me keep my telescoping rod and fishing tackle with my carry-on. The folks who think that Dominican authorities are laughable should travel around the region more. Nothing that anyone in a uniform at MBJ said made any sense or followed and particular logic. They just do what they're told and look at the rest of us as if it's not supposed to make sense.

Thousands of Haitians have died from cholera and they're looking for dengue fever.....

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I had the same experience at Montego Bay in September. I got the speech about dengue fever as if I were a 12 year old, and when I didn't have the exact address for the place where I was staying, I got another lecture from another person. Finally, she asked, "Do you often travel to foreign countries without knowing the address of where you'll be staying?" When I answered, "yes", and began to list off the countries where I had done the same thing without hearing a lecture about it, she stamped my passport and sent me on.

Made me remember why I had chosen to live in the DR instead of Jamaica.

If that would have happened in the DR, it would have been heard the world over. The many haitian proponents would have considered this as one more international incident, viewed by many of them as more Dominican hatred, racism and xenophobia towards the haitians.

greydread moans

I thought this was pretty strange. I hadn't experienced a single mosquito bite in either country. The other strange thing that happened at that airport was that they confiscated my bic lighter but let me keep my telescoping rod and fishing tackle with my carry-on.

i have news for you, grey. they are just following security rules which they did not initiate. why don't you try walking into any American embassy with a lighter in your pocket, and see if it is not confiscated. or, try leaving the DR with your bic on your person. as one of Jamaican bearing, i am aware of their mortal dread of dengue. this is something they strove mightily to eradicate in the 70s, and they just do not want it coming back with force. the fact that Haiti and the DR have not done dick to combat these epidemics is to their lasting discredit. and, i must say that if puryear is so discomfited by what he considers to be a condescending speech from a health official, i too am glad he chose to live in the DR, rather than Jamaica.

the gorgon said:

i have news for you, grey. they are just following security rules which they did not initiate. why don't you try walking into any American embassy with a lighter in your pocket, and see if it is not confiscated. or, try leaving the DR with your bic on your person. as one of Jamaican bearing, i am aware of their mortal dread of dengue. this is something they strove mightily to eradicate in the 70s, and they just do not want it coming back with force. the fact that Haiti and the DR have not done dick to combat these epidemics is to their lasting discredit. and, i must say that if puryear is so discomfited by what he considers to be a condescending speech from a health official, i too am glad he chose to live in the DR, rather than Jamaica.

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Are you sure your Jamaican?

I certainly found all others in the country very kind and warm, but I honestly would not live there because of the attitude of the airport officials. Many others from North America have expressed the same. Other than the self-important persons at the airport, however, most Jamaicans pride themselves on their respectful attitude towards others. I'm guessing you've been away too long to remember your manners.

At any rate, throughout the Caribbean, Haitians are looked down upon. Only the DR gets a bad rap for how they treat Haitians, but yet, Dominicans were the first to supply millions of pesos worth of assistance after the earthquake, while many of the countries who criticise the DR have yet to deliver one dollar or euro of what they promised.

the gorgon said:

greydread moans

I thought this was pretty strange. I hadn't experienced a single mosquito bite in either country. The other strange thing that happened at that airport was that they confiscated my bic lighter but let me keep my telescoping rod and fishing tackle with my carry-on.

i have news for you, grey. they are just following security rules which they did not initiate. why don't you try walking into any American embassy with a lighter in your pocket, and see if it is not confiscated. or, try leaving the DR with your bic on your person. as one of Jamaican bearing, i am aware of their mortal dread of dengue. this is something they strove mightily to eradicate in the 70s, and they just do not want it coming back with force. the fact that Haiti and the DR have not done dick to combat these epidemics is to their lasting discredit. and, i must say that if puryear is so discomfited by what he considers to be a condescending speech from a health official, i too am glad he chose to live in the DR, rather than Jamaica.

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Greydread doesn't "moan". Greydread PROTESTS!

Your second sentence is absolutely incorrect:

TSA: Prohibited Items

Bic lighters are on the allowable items list and have been for almost two years. I guess the security fees which we pay to Sangster Int'l Airport don't include training for security personnel. I always fly into and out of SDQ with a lighter in my pocket and a couple more in my carry on. I gift them or they get purloined, so I bring them by the 6-pack and the lighters sold in the D.R. are not well made and rarely last a week even though they cost 2-3 times as much as a standard Bic.

How is it that the exact same items that I flew out of Reagan National Airport are not allowed on the return flight? I'll tell you how. Some idiot in a uniform decided that their uniform was all the excuse they needed to make up rules as they go along. Being "of Jamaican bearing" I can't believe that you haven't noticed this.

Don't get me wrong here. I love JA island and the people and the culture, etc. but it is impossible to ignore official abuses at every level there. The police act like an army of occupation and the people hate them for it. The politicians and their cronies are maintaining high lifestyles while the people suffer tremendous hardship and poverty. Cops are killing innocent civilians and they have no one but gangsters to turn to for protection. The same gangsters that the politicians keep on their payrolls to intimidate their opposition. I was there in 1978 when the whole Manly v. Seaga battles raged in the streets. Isn't it funny how guns are illegal there but every criminal gangster wannabe has got a Mac-10 or and Uzi?

The Dominican highway infrastructure makes that of JA island look like something out of a history book. The 40 mile trip from MoBay to Negril still takes at least an hour and a half on a two lane road with donkeys and goats on it. The pol's spent that money buying new Mercedes SUV's and London flats. Every Dominican who complains about their politicians and police should spend a Month in Jamaica to find out how good they really have it.

Jamaica has a lot bigger problems than dengue fever to worry about.

...and who travels with a jar full of mosquitos? If a guy with malaria sneezes the next guy has no chance of being infected. That's what I can do in protest. I'm going back to Sangster as soon as I get back from Santo Domingo and as I produce my passport full of Dominican stamps on it I think I'll feign a sneezing fit while slapping away at invisible mosquitos, dreadlocks flying all over the place just to watch those uniforms panic.

Greydead is so much more eloquent than I.

Though I think the Jamaican people are wonderful and the food is awesome, I chose to live in the Dominican Republic because of the Jamaican government.

[To Moderators: It's really difficult to keep this DR related, but I think we should get credit for trying.]

puryear270 said:

Greydead is so much more eloquent than I.

Though I think the Jamaican people are wonderful and the food is awesome, I chose to live in the Dominican Republic because of the Jamaican government.

[To Moderators: It's really difficult to keep this DR related, but I think we should get credit for trying.]

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LOL, you sure are right about that one. A situation that happened in Jamaica with regards to a Haitian football team..really hard to make it DR related.