Members of the Guyana Defence Force and the Police Force were deploy-ed to the Anna Regina Car Park yesterday morning after scores of Venezuelans flocked the Region Two town with their belongings.
When Stabroek News visited the scene, the Venezuelans were being placed into buses; this newspaper was unable to ascertain their final destination.
The police are meant to follow certain protocols in dealing with Venezuelan migrants.
Stabroek News spoke to a few Venezuelans who had limited command of English and all said that they were escaping the economic crisis back in Venezuela and were only seeking a new home in Guyana. Horacio (only name given) said his family of 18, including his mother and children, arrived in Guyana September last. He said there are other family members back in Venezuela who needed to be rescued. In his halting English, Horacio said all he wanted was a place to sleep.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugh Todd last evening told Stabroek News that he had not yet been briefed by the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force on the operations and would provide an update today.
Horacio’s mother and children stood before the Anna Regina Police Station crying in the hot sun. When asked where they stayed since their arrival, Horacio replied that they stayed at some churches and were provided support by the pastors. The children’s skin showed marks of rashes. Passersby were generous with food and drink which they donated to Horacio and his family. Other Venezuelan men also had most of their families, including children, with them. They all seemed hungry and tired after travelling for days.
One eyewitness lamented to this newspaper that at one home, the parents fled and left their children behind, some of them scared and crying. The eyewitness said that one family had already enroll-ed children in school and it was the neighbours who had to rescue the children.
The welfare of the children was highlighted as during exercises, it is the they who are most times left traumatized and it is unclear what actions are being taken to address the issue in a humanitarian manner.
Last month, this newspaper reported that dozens of Venezuelans fleeing hardship in their country were taken into custody by the police at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo, after arriving on a boat that Coast Guard ranks were seen guarding.
Then the police also seized about 242 fighting fowls that were packed in bags, after they were taken off the boat. Stabroek News learnt that 80 people, including children, were huddled in the open-air boat.
Some of the people managed to leave the area with families who were there to receive them, before the police got there.
The boat had reportedly set sail for Guyana five days prior, stopping in Grenada for one and half days before continuing the journey. When this newspaper got there, the new arrivals were with other Venezuelans who had been squatting on the sea dam, with their belongings.
They looked wet and tired and some of the women were trying to feed snacks to the children.
Police officers were also in the yard with guns, while a few of the officers were asking those who had just arrived to produce their identification cards and other documents.
After the police were finished, they said they were taking them to the immigration department at the Parika Police Station to “process them.”
