Young Rowley have a compassionate heart for.. The Plight of Suffering Venezuelans!

By FRED LIVERMORE

By the time you read this article, maybe another 2,000 Venezuelans would have arrived legally or illegally in Trinidad and Tobago.

This columnist is still not convinced as of this time of writing that there are any concrete plans to facilitate these foreign nationals, even on a temporary basis. Yes, they may be planning, but planning what? In September 2015, 2017 and 2018, the Rowley-led administration was repeatedly advised of the growing political, economic, social, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, but that was not heeded. According to Insight Crime, “Venezuela has become a Mafia State.” Rowley is the boss, he knows best, he is fluent in Spanish, and what he says the population must inevitably accept as gospel truth, even though he could be wrong all the time as have proven in his years in office as Prime Minister. The naivete of his apprentice Minister of National Security has been repeatedly exposed in the media as many of the organs of national security have been and are clandestinely engaged in the whole migration and transnational organized criminal activities emanating from that side of the border. Read Mr. Minister, it is TTPS officials who have been using in the past TTPS vehicles to transport drugs, weapons, illegal arms, and even illegal migrants. Some are before the courts now, so when some say that some immigration officials are corrupt, you do not have the evidence and do you expect an immigration officer to tell you that he or she is taking bribes? You should speak to Gary Griffith some more to get some thoughts. But in the meantime, as Minister holding a very complex and challenging portfolio, one of many, Young should keep this thought in mind, “our treatment of strangers reveals many basic aspects of our sense of justice. If immigration laws are to succeed in reflecting our best side in a world that is experiencing accelerating rates of change, it is important that our public keep a critical outlook and questioning spirit.” Do you honestly know how many national security officials are involved in human trafficking, Minister Young? Get your intelligence agencies to tell you sir.

Genesis of Obstinacy

Such a critical outlook and questioning spirit arose when the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights joined the Opposition and the United Nations in its concern about the repatriation of 82 Venezuelan asylum seekers. In a release, the Centre expressed concerns that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago would think it appropriate to carry out such an exercise without seeking the views of the relevant agencies tasked with the protection of refugees and asylum seekers, in particular, the United Nations. “This is highly unsatisfactory in a country founded on democratic principles,” the Centre said. The Centre said Government’s action raises grave human rights concerns and brings into question this country’s commitment to international conventions to which it is a signatory, specifically in this case the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. “Of particular concern is the disturbing disconnect between the assertion by the Ministry of National Security that all 82 individuals were voluntarily repatriated, and the fact that several of those individuals were seeking asylum in Trinidad and Tobago. Returning asylum seekers to the very State from which they have fled is a breach of the United Nations Refugee Convention. This principle, referred to as non-refoulement, is intended to ensure the safety of individuals whose fear of persecution has driven them from their homes to seek asylum within the borders of other countries.” “Statements made by the United Nations, the Living Waters Community and lawyers representing some of the asylum seekers strongly indicate that the repatriation exercise came as a surprise and without consultation from those entities that have been acting on the asylum seekers’ behalf. Furthermore, there has been no independent verification of the voluntary nature of the repatriation. At the same time, it has been confirmed that some of the repatriated individuals were in possession of the appropriate documentation to substantiate their status as asylum-seekers in this country,” the Centre said. The Centre said the foot-dragging by the government of Trinidad and Tobago on the implementation of the Draft Refugee Policy coupled with the discriminatory provisions within the Immigration Act continues to deny legitimate asylum seekers the rights and dignity they deserve as human beings. “However, the act of repatriation of asylum-seekers in collaboration with the country of origin takes the human rights violation to an even more serious level and we should all be deeply concerned as citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Changing Attitudes in South America

As Venezuela’s refugee crisis deepens, attitudes toward Venezuelans are hardening across the continent. In Brazil, local governments have attempted to close the border with Venezuela. In August 2018, xenophobic attacks upon Venezuelan refugees and their makeshift dwellings prompted the deployment of Brazilian troops. In Chile, new visa rules require Venezuelans to apply for refugee status from within Venezuela, where the asylum process has essentially come to a halt. Meanwhile, Ecuador and Peru have closed their borders to Venezuelans without passports, which are extremely difficult to secure from the Venezuelan government. And in Venezuela itself, the crisis has reached a boiling point, with two rival claims to the Presidency threatening to throw the country into outright violence.

Spanish Newspaper, SEMANA

The Newspaper SEMANA pointed out that while Colombia bears the brunt of the Venezuelan exodus in terms of sheer numbers, several islands of the Caribbean, like Trinidad and Tobago, are being battered by a criminal hurricane unleashed by the nation’s collapse. Colombia has anything up to one and a half million Venezuelans now living in that country or passing through to other parts of the region, a staggering three percent of the population.

The integration of almost one million Venezuelan refugees represents a monumental challenge for Colombia, one that threatens an already fragile social order. Trinidad and Tobago however, with a population of almost 1.4 million has up to 100,000 Venezuelans, a figure of over seven percent. Such is the influx, that the English-speaking island is being forced to rediscover its Spanish roots and the fast-paced Venezuelan Spanish can increasingly be heard on street corners amid the Caribbean creole. The Newspaper stated that “Trinidad and Tobago, unlike Colombia, does not have a well-oiled machine to receive and process Venezuelan migrants, nor does it easily grant them recognition, allowing them to work and get access to health care and education. This forces many into the underworld, into taking menial jobs, or if they are attractive young women, into prostitution.” The journalist said that, “while in Port of Spain I spoke to a young woman who had been trafficked from Venezuela, and promised, in return for $1500, the chance to work in a restaurant and thus send back desperately needed hard currency to her family in Valencia. Instead she was put to work in a bar and pressured into prostitution. When she refused, she was savagely beaten. Now she sits, terrified, in a tiny room she rents, with no job and not even enough money to make the journey back to Venezuela. Her story is not uncommon, and the prostitution sector on the island is booming. “Venezuelans are also feeding the street gangs, which in turn feed Trinidad and Tobago’s murder rate of 37.5 per 100,000 people, far head of Colombia’s 25 killings per 100,000.” Just 11 kilometers from the coast of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago provides much of the contraband for eastern Venezuela. While migrants and cocaine leave Venezuelan shores in growing quantities, food and medicines travel the other way, for purchase by those in Venezuela who still have access to hard currency. There has been explosive growth in pharmacies and mini markets across the islands of Trinidad and Tobago and it is common knowledge that the real money is not made with goods sold across the counter, but the boxes that leave through the back door and find their way onto boats streaking across the Caribbean towards Venezuela. Piracy across the straits is common, and Trinidad’s newspaper frequently report on the kidnapping of fishermen.

Genuine humanitarian and immigration crisis facing T&T

Young and Rowley, had your government sought assistance from experts in the field of migration and asylum law, and consulted with national stakeholders, many temporary provisions could have been made in the Southwestern peninsula to assist these nationals instead of having a genuine humanitarian and migration crisis facing Trinidad and Tobago. All this is a reflection of an ill prepared and ineffective government, unable and so appears unwilling to say something concrete. May be the government should seek asylum or take mental asylum.