V'zuelan plan 'a good step'

The TT Government is “on the right track” with its plan to register all legal and illegal Venezuelans, according to Jose Cardenas, political analyst and expert in Latin American and Caribbean relations with the United States.

Government announced its Venezuelan Registration Policy where Venezuelans in TT would be allowed to register from May 31 to June 14, and granted the equivalent of a work permit exemption, initially valid for six months.

“It’s not an easy system to implement because the employers get to exploit cheap labour and the cost simply rise when you do it through a regulated system. The US has been through this for the last 30 years, trying to find sustainable solutions to this...

“It is a simple matter of security to know who’s here. I think it’s a good step. What I hope is that TT can receive perhaps UN or US humanitarian assistance to relieve the Government from providing some sort of sustenance, roof over the heads of the refugees.”

Cardenas noted that ten per cent of the population already fled the South American country and if things continued as they were, up to 30 per cent, or ten million Venezuelans could leave because of the “economic disaster.”

He said no country wanted to make itself more attractive to refugee flows but a balance between humanitarian and practical aspects of the situation was necessary, and he believed the US would be willing to assist.

He admitted there were both positive and negatives to the ongoing Venezuelan crisis, TT’s geographical proximity to the struggling nation, and the refugee flow to TT. One main positive was that they could fill holes in TT’s labour force.

He said it was possible to integrate some Venezuelans into the legal work force with work permits which would allow them to care for themselves. However, he stressed it could not be limitless because eventually TT’s capacity to absorb them all would be exceeded.

“I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the next six months. More may come and that will add to the burden. But again, that gets back to trying to resolve the underlying problem and that is, why are Venezuelans fleeing, and address that issue.”

The negatives mainly involved the criminal elements’ exploitation of “vulnerable populations” and desperate people.

Cardenas said a rise in human trafficking was to be expected as smuggling rings with partners in TT transported people to this country for a price. “That’s a natural occurrence when you have desperate people. Cynical people come to exploit the situation so it does, overall, have the tendency to cause an expansion of criminality... And it puts a lot of pressure on law enforcement capacity.”

He said other criminal elements may approach unemployed, desperate Venezuelans in TT and invite them to join their gang or criminal organisation in exchange for being taken care of. “That’s not to say that every Venezuelan who arrives in TT is a potential criminal but it is all part of the mix. That happens.”

According to Cardenas, undocumented workers could also create social division if they were able to access the benefits of the system without putting into it via taxes. Here too, he said, TT could benefit from the experience of the US to address that problem.

He said some people would reach out to help while others would express jingoism or xenophobia. “As long as the government emphases that this is a temporary measure to account for a crisis, than perhaps public opinion would be more ameliorated, that this is temporary. Again, you don’t want to create an atmosphere where this becomes a prime destination because they could get registered and get legal work here and get on their feet quickly. It’s a balance between the humanitarian aspect and the practical aspect, recognising human nature and those realities.”

He stressed that the sooner the crisis ends, the sooner frontline states like TT and Colombia would stop having to divert attention and resources to the refugee situation and away from its main functions and objectives.