V'zuelans fined for illegal entry

SEVENTEEN Venezuelans appeared in the San Fernando magistrates’ court yesterday for illegally entering the country.

After pleading guilty, several of them told senior magistrate Jo-Ann Connor that when they landed by boat in the Gulf of Paria, they stayed in the “mountains.”

Among them were two women. Each, except for a 20-year-old man, was fined $3,000.

The 17 were brought in two vehicles to the courthouse shortly before midday. Connor read the charge to each one of them that they entered TT at a place not designated a port of entry and failed to report to an Immigration officer.

Except for one, most of them came within the last three weeks. They gave the magistrate the names of people and addresses such as Penal Rock Road, Sancho Road, Princes Town, Ste Madeleine and Palo Seco, where they have been living.

The women, Almeris Josefina Medrana Monroy and Yelitza Del Carmen Monroy, said that when they landed, they went to the “mountains.” The men also, when asked by Connor through interpreter Christie Ramkissoon, said that they had been in the “mountains.”

Pedro Chanel Maurera, 20, who said he is a student in Venezuela, was reprimanded and discharged by the magistrate. He said he could not continue his education in Venezuela.

The others said they work as bricklayers, barbers, mechanics and construction workers back home.

They have three months to pay the fines or face six months in jail.