Few Trinidad and Tobago Venezuelan migrants can vote in presidential election

Venezuelan migrants who are refugees, asylum seekers, or have Trinidad and Tobago work permits will not be able to register for their country’s presidential elections on July 28.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela announced on March 5 the schedule to include updating data, changes of residence, or registration of new voters from March 18 to April 16. This process includes Venezuelans currently living abroad.

However, for migrants in TT, recording a change of residence to exercise their right to vote is practically impossible, as one requirement is proof of official residence issued by the TT government.

Under Venezuelan election law, only Venezuelans over 18 and who have residency or any other record of permanent legal residence outside the country can take part.

This means only those who obtained official residency status in TT since the last presidential election in 2018 can register or update their addresses. Just over 300 Venezuelans who met the legal requirements were able to take part in that election.

Currently, about 8,000 Venezuelans have work permits to remain in TT. Newsday asked the consulate if this document would allow Venezuelans to change their residence to vote in the presidential election and the answer was “no.”

The total number of Venezuelans in TT is unknown. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in its latest quarterly records, reported 25,000 refugees and asylum-seekers.

Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said on June 26, 2023, in the Senate, the number of legal or illegal Venezuelans could not be quantified.

Venezuelan citizens who meet the requirements to update their data can do so at the consulate on Victoria Avenue, Port of Spain, with a current or expired laminated ID card.

The denial of registration to Venezuelans with a work permit has generated controversy in the community.

Jesus Thomas, a member of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s team in TT, told Newsday the work permit is a legal document issued by the TT government and should be accepted by the consulate.

“The work permit is also a permit to legally remain in TT. Therefore it is a document to demonstrate our legal status here since 2019.” Thomas said the right of Venezuelans in TT to decide the political destiny of their country is being denied.

“In other countries, the situation of Venezuelans is different from TT. In some places, we can obtain residency in two years, but in TT we can spend ten or 15 years waiting, as happens to many, and they cannot do it. It is incomprehensible that having a legal work permit is insufficient to demonstrate status here.”

Thomas urged Venezuelans who can register with the CNE to do so on time.

However, as of this Monday, a week after the CNE registration process began worldwide, the Venezuelan consulate in TT had not yet opened registration.

Newsday tried to find out why the consulate has not started updating electoral data, but messages were not answered.