Caricom staffers ‘liated’ – Secretary General

Like many persons travelling in the region by air in recent times, some members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) secretariat were “liated” last week Wednesday.{{more}}

The members of the secretariat, who were on their way to St Vincent and the Grenadines for a consultation workshop, were delayed by regional airline LIAT.

At the opening ceremony on Thursday morning, Ambassador Ellsworth John explained the absence of some of the secretariat staffers to participants.

“The CARICOM team is a total of eight persons and you will note that there are only three persons here with us this morning. Through the night, I was getting texts from Trinidad and Tobago from the team. They were supposed to arrive here at 9:40 (p.m.). Compliments of LIAT, they did not leave Trinidad and Tobago until 1 this morning. Mid-air, they were told that the airport in St Vincent was closed, so they were diverted to Barbados. The first flight from Barbados leaves at 11 (a.m.), so they will be joining us, hopefully at that time,” John explained.

CARICOM’s Secretary General Irwin Laroque revealed that the secretariat has developed a term for when issues such as these occur.

“We have developed a term in the secretariat. We call it ‘liated’,” he said.

However, the secretary general sympathized with the regional transportation company, saying that the airline is doing its best in trying to move forward.

“I want to recognize that LIAT is doing a tremendous job under some very trying circumstances to keep the community connected,” Laroque said.

“I don’t know how we could do without it, especially in those countries that are not fully served by international carriers, such as here and the country that I came from, Dominica, in particular”.(BK)