Venezuelans in TT desperate to fly home

Venezuelans in TT hoping to return to their country were frustrated on Sunday, after their government announced borders would be closed for another month, until August 12.

The National Institute of Civil Aeronautics of Venezuela (INAC) reported on Sunday that it was extending the suspension of flights as a preventive measure in the face of the covid19 pandemic.

The ban applies to all civil, private and commercial air operations, and to domestic and international flights.

Until August 12, the only flights allowed will be cargo flights, mail flights, humanitarian flights or flights co-ordinated by the UN, technical landings and flights that have to make an emergency landing.

Any others must have permits from the authorities.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Venezuelans in TT want to return home urgently.

Among them are a group of 20 stranded here since March, when the Venezuelan borders closed, They arrived for various reasons with return tickets, but to date have not received the permits to to return home.

Carlos Martínez, a Venezuelan who came to TT in January to work, said, "We are organising a group of people who need to return to Venezuela. There are more than 100 who have asked about the possibility. But up to now we only know that it would be through a private flight, costing more than US$300 per person – without talk about permits or dates.”

Now, with this new extension of the closure of the borders, Martínez and his compatriots will have to continue waiting.

"This is a big problem. My wife is pregnant in Venezuela and there has been no way to get me a special return permit," he said.

The Venezuelan embassy in TT reported a month ago that it had a list of more than 200 Venezuelans who want to go home but everything depends on the government there.

In early June, 30 Trinidadians who were in Venezuela paid for a charter flight and got exemptions to return to TT. That plane returned to Venezuela without passengers, as no Venezuelans had permission from their government to fly home aboard it.

Venezuelan government figures said the country had 9,465 cases of covi19 as of Monday, with 89 dead and 2,671 recovered. Zulia state, in the west, is the worst affected so far.