Young Junkanoo Player stuck in Grenada flown home on private jet by Government

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, April 7, 2024 – A private jet sent by the government on Thursday canceled out what would have been two days of flying with four stops in four different countries, Antigua, Barbados, The British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic to bring home J-Nevo Handfield Agenor, a young Junkanoo player who was left in Grenada after the recently concluded CARIFTA Games.

When we spoke to Cynclair Musgrove, his chaperone on Thursday morning, having paid out of pocket for two new flights, she was rushing to the airport to get the child after a long night of trying to book.

“I let the parents know that I bought the tickets, I let the Premier know, I let the Minister of Education know that I bought the tickets, I let the MP know.  I let them all know that I’m on the way back to Grenada to collect Jay and escort him home,” she said.

But mere hours later, Thursday evening, a jet was bringing them home.

The entire flight plan followed this: “Trust me if you see anything happen to Jay I gon eat somebody alive because you are the adult you supposed to stay back with that f****** child,” it was that tearful, angry voice note from the boy’s grandmother that catapulted the issue to national attention on Wednesday afternoon.

A travel mishap started by a document misprint, snowballed into a countrywide issue that’s left residents very unhappy with how it was handled.

Soon after that voice note which implicated the boys chaperone Cynclair Musgrove, former North Caicos District Commissioner, a detailed explanation came from Edith Skippings, Turks and Caicos Amateur Athletics Association (TCAAA) President who had also been in Grenada.

“No child was left abandoned in any hotel— there is an issue with one of the young men that went to Grenada along with Cynclair and others to play as part of the Turks and Caicos newly formed Junkanoo Group,” Skippings said.

That issue was a misprint caused by the British Passport Office which listed Agenor as a ‘British Overseas Citizen’ rather than a British Citizen.  It led to the cancellation of his ESTA, without which he could not travel through Miami with the rest of his team to get home on Tuesday.

“Cynclair made a decision for him to come on InterCaribbean today along with my athletes.  We arranged for the driver to take him to one of our chaperones and he went.  He was not in a hotel stranded by himself.” She continued  “He went to the airport this morning with Cody in the hope of being able to get on the flight with the other athletes.”

Unfortunately at that point there were no seats on the Intercaribbean flight and J-Nevo was inexplicably left in the care of a North Caicos nurse’s family member; that nurse hails from Grenada.

His family members are seething and it was confirmed that they were not directly told the young man had been left behind; they had to hear it from other residents.  The view from the family and many other residents who chimed in was that the child should never have been left alone and behind in the first place.  They maintain that Musgrove as the adult should have stayed behind with him.

It created a conundrum as staying with the student would have also meant sending the other minors unattended into the United States to catch a flight to Providenciales.

What seems to have upset residents the most is that at each junction there seems to have a been multiple option to resolve the situation, questions include:

“Why didn’t an adult stay behind from the Junkanoo team?”

“Why didn’t the government apply diplomatic pressure to get a temporary solution to the issue?”

“Why didn’t adults check if there was space on the Intercaribbean Flight?”

“Why didn’t the adult from the CARIFTA team stay behind?”

“Why weren’t parents informed immediately?”

“Where is TCIG in the issue?”

The eventual solution shared with the news team by Musgrove was a return to Grenada with a long and complicated process.

Lyndon Gardiner, chairman of Intercaribbean Airways provided an itinerary for the young man when he spoke to our team which would have seen him leave Grenada for Barbados at 1:15 Friday.  Then from Barbados to Antigua at 4:45.  From Antigua Agenor would have gone to the BVI on Saturday arriving at 11:10 am then from there to Santo Domingo at 1:05.  Finally the young man would have arrived in the TCI from the DR at 3:35 later Saturday.

Thanks to the private flight that was avoided.