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There are about 100 kilometers separating the fishing community of Güiria, in the far northeast of Venezuela, from Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.
And while it may not seem like much, in reality it is a dangerous journey full of obstacles, especially if done on small, precarious fishing boats.
This is precisely what the thousands of Venezuelans who ventured across the Gulf of Paria to reach the island of Trinidad did.
They do so by fleeing the poverty, unemployment and lack of services that persist in the South American country and which have been exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic.
Many died in a trickle of cases that rarely made headlines over the weekend, when the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard said in a statement it had received information on eleven bodies found the day before in waters near the town of Güiria. .
Soon after, the Venezuelan authorities corroborated the news with another statement, in which they also added that they had found three more dead bodies, bringing the death toll to 14.
The section from Güiria to Trinidad is extremely complicated.
First you have to get to Macuro, a small isolated town whose only access route is the sea, from there the boats launch into the sea with the hope of reaching the other side.
To end the trip which lasts a little over two hours, you have to cross a “very dangerous” area called Dragon’s mouth, a series of straits that separate the Gulf of Paria from the Caribbean Sea.
Venezuelan digital media journalist Crónica.Uno Yohana Marra, who knows the area well, says weather conditions can complicate matters even more.
“And in itself, crossing the dragon’s mouth is complicated because several waters collide with it, which makes it difficult for fishing boats to pass,” he told BBC Mundo.
For this reason, he explains that some ships choose to travel very close to the coast, to minimize the risk of death in the event of a shipwreck.
And they always come out at night, in the dark, to avoid being captured by the Trinidadian authorities.
Naki Soto, a Venezuelan communicator who is also familiar with the subject, details that the boats are small and were “originally created for fishing”.
“These are wooden structures that depend on engine power which, given the country’s degraded infrastructure, have not been maintained for years. Added to that is a poor quality gasoline which ends up reducing the opportunities for the successful sailing boat, ”Soto tells BBC Mundo.
At the time of this article’s publication, neither Trinidadian nor Venezuelan authorities had responded to BBC Mundo’s interview requests.
“Fishing boats leave Güiria with very few safety measures, usually with 25-30 people, more than the boat can carry, and the majority without life jackets,” said priest Jesús Villarroel, director of Güiria, at BBC Mundo. Caritas Carúpano, State of Sucre.
The trip can cost up to US $ 500, according to the priest, and is organized in a “mysterious and secret” manner by locals who call themselves “captains”.
Marra says there are even those who pay for the trip with a cell phone, fridge or television.
“Others even pledge their house to pay for it”, explains Villarroel, before specifying that the majority of those who decide to leave for Trinidad in this way come from the east of the country, many from the region of Güiria.
“However, there are also cases of people coming from the rest of the country.”
For his part, Soto believes that there is a problem between the criminal gangs for the control of the sea which has dragged the local fishermen.
“The possibilities they have of dealing with organized gangs are rare and that is why some end up being submissive and join them,” he explains. “They have to live on something.”
Marra, who has spoken to several people who aspire to emigrate to Trinidad, explains that many Güiria see the island as the only option out of the “desperate” situation they find themselves in.
“Sometimes they have nothing to eat, the women are unemployed. They are aware of the situation in Trinidad, that they can be arrested, of the xenophobia, but they told me they didn’t care. “he said.
“All they care about is getting a job and being able to send money to their families.”
According to Marra, the migrants leave “with what they wear” and with a backpack in which they put what is strictly necessary: ”A few spare clothes are sometimes more than enough”.
“If the ship manages to reach Trinidad, someone will be waiting for them there to guide them so that they are not detained, sometimes they have to stay in safe places for several days when there are checkpoints, but it may take several days before they can communicate with their families. and let them know that they have arrived safe and sound. ”
Marra is concerned that the wreck issue is “normalizing” in Güiria.
“They tell me that the city is currently in turmoil, that there are arrests and that they are trying to investigate. The relatives of the deceased are destroyed, of course, but it has happened so many times already that the villagers are less and less shocked.
When they finally arrive in Trinidad, a large part of Venezuelans begin a long process to stay in the country as refugees.
Marra denounces that a worrying aspect of human trafficking in Trinidad is that there is also the trafficking of women.
“The issue of migration to Venezuela favors networks dedicated to this activity, which has become common in eastern Venezuela,” he explains.
“They recruit teenagers, they make promises of work and many single mothers who live in precariousness and want to help their families believe in themselves and end up falling into prostitution and exploitation.
In June this year, the Venezuelan justice detained 11 men and a woman who were allegedly involved in a human trafficking ring that sought to transfer a group comprising underage girls to Trinidad.
Currently in Trinidad and Tobago, approximately 40,000 Venezuelans live, a number which continues to increase despite attempts by the Trinidadian authorities to stop the migration flow.
And tensions between the Venezuelan and Trinidadian authorities continue to increase.
“The case of the 14 dead last Saturday is not the first, Venezuela already has more than a hundred deaths at sea, but not all have had the same media impact, and unfortunately I doubt it will be the last This will continue until the situation in the country changes, ”concludes journalist Naki Soto.
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