Dhe search for a better life has come to a fatal end for a young Venezuelan mother and her one-year-old baby. The two were on a boat with other migrants bound for Trinidad and Tobago when the boat was stopped and fired upon by coastguards there. A shot hit the child, who was later found dead in the hospital. The Coast Guard says the boat entered the territory illegally and defied orders even after the first warning shots were fired.
It was Saturday night in the Venezuelan state of Delta Amacuro, south of Trinidad and Tobago. According to human rights activists, up to ten migrant boats should leave the country for Trinidad and Tobago every day. The crossing to the Caribbean island is not far, but risky. The region is known for people smuggling, drug trafficking and piracy. According to official figures, more than a hundred Venezuelans have died in shipwrecks in the past four years. But even after arriving on the Caribbean island, the migrants are not safe. About a year ago, twenty migrants died in a shipwreck after being turned back after arriving in Trinidad and Tobago.
Hatred grows – despite the same language
According to official figures, there are around 25,000 Venezuelans in Trinidad and Tobago. Human rights organizations estimate 40,000 to 50,000. Venezuelans are typically classified as economic migrants who are not protected under Trinidadian law and are subject to deportation. Many remain on the island illegally and are often victims of slave-like labor and sexual exploitation. The Caribbean state with its 1.4 million inhabitants is overwhelmed by the onslaught of Venezuelan migrants.
The number of Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago is comparatively small. According to the United Nations, more than five million Venezuelans, or about a sixth of Venezuela’s population, have fled their homes since 2015. They are escaping the misery in their country, where a large part of the population has been impoverished by the crisis caused by the socialist government. The humanitarian situation has become increasingly critical in recent years. Most Venezuelans end up in Colombia, which grants regular residency status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans. But Venezuelans are also looking for a better life in practically every other country in the region.
Although cultural barriers are few and people speak the same language, hatred of immigrants is growing in the region. In recent months, for example, there have been several attacks on Venezuelan migrants in Chile. A week ago, residents in the northern Chilean city of Iquique demonstrated against immigrants blamed for the city’s rise in crime. Last September, a camp of Venezuelan migrants was set on fire.
Venezuelans are also making themselves felt in the United States. The border authorities there have recorded an increase in the number of Venezuelans apprehended at the southern border. In December alone there were almost 25,000. In January, the American authorities began deporting Venezuelans who had already been there to Colombia. A deportation to Venezuela is hardly possible because Washington does not recognize the government of the socialist ruler Nicolás Maduro.
The exodus from Venezuela is an ongoing and major challenge for countries in the region. Many countries lack the capacities in health and education, but also in the labor market, to absorb large numbers of migrants. For families in Venezuela, however, the money sent by relatives abroad has become vital. In 2020, remittances from abroad amounted to about four billion dollars.
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