(Trinidad Express) University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus students in Barbados will not be allowed to return home.
The position was made clear by National Security Stuart Young yesterday, in response to reports that 13 students had made a direct appeal to him and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for an exemption allowing them back into Trinidad, despite the closure of borders.
On Tuesday, 33 Trinidadian nationals returned from Barbados on a chartered flight after a request for exemption was granted by Young.
Young addressed the public yesterday during a virtual press conference on the issue of border control. He said that the decision to close borders to nationals and non-nationals on March 22 came as a result of the expert advice of medical professionals to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“Border control has been a topic for the last couple weeks again. I would like to speak very briefly. This was done, the closure of our borders, progressively. It didn’t happen overnight; our borders were eventually closed on the 23 March to all. This was not an easy decision. It was not an easy decision; it was not a decision we wanted to take. But again, we carefully thought through measures based on the medical advice. I dare say it was worked to protect Trinidad and Tobago. Our decision to close the borders was done to protect those in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.