Activist: Don't blame Venezuelans for Trinidad and Tobago's crime problem

VENEZUELAN social activist Yesenia Gonzalez said it was unfair of the authorities to try to blame Venezuelan migrants for rampant criminality in Trinidad and Tobago. In a voice note to Newsday on September 6, she said much of the crime has long been happening under the noses of the authorities who were now seeking to blame migrants.

Earlier that day, Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher said the police will be coming after legal and illegal migrants involved in crime, but when questioned she said she had never specified Venezuelans.

Harewood-Christopher, who was addressing a briefing at the Ministry of National Security in Port of Spain, said, "We also have – whether legal or illegal – migrants involved in criminal activities.

"So we want to speak to the illegal migrants to let them know that we will be coming after them. In our bars, with all the illicit activities, we'll be coming after them." The CoP did not name the "activities" in bars for which the police would apprehend migrants, nor say what proportion of crimes in Trinidad and Tobago were done by migrants.

Gonzalez said, "Yes, there is crime with Venezuelans in Trinidad but it is not all the Venezuelans that are criminals and it is not all the Trinidadians that are criminals. "

She said the police can do many things to tackle crime in Trinidad and Tobago.

"But you are discriminating against the Venezuelans and treating them badly.

"Some police officers are involved in human trafficking, as you know."

Gonzalez said a lot of information was available on where girls were being trafficked from and where they might now be kept.

"There is a lot of information out there of bars trafficking persons to Trinidad and Tobago especially young girls. Recently there was a young girl trafficked and the family contacted me because they (abductors) were asking for ransom. The family was afraid to report it to the police because they may kill them. They threatened them. all of that is going on right now."

She said not all Venezuelans were involved in crime but any who were should be jailed after a proper investigation.

"But basically, before the Venezuelans came here there was crime in Trinidad. And it has been growing, more and more and more. They had more than 600 murders a year in Trinidad and Tobago.

"I really don't understand how they cannot deal with crime."

She lamented xenophobic comments about Venezuelans.

"There was a rape going on in the Heliport and they used to have things going on in that Heliport based on the information that I got.

"There are a lot of things going on right now. If they want to say all the Venezuelans are the cause of crime in Trinidad and Tobago, that is just an excuse. They are ashamed and it is an embarrassment for the Government to know they cannot deal with crime and that right now no matter what they try to do they cannot control it.

"There is a lot of guns, a lot of drugs and a lot of human trafficking going on.

"They know where the bar is, they know who is involved, and they are still not dealing with it."

Gonzalez said people knew a particular girl in a bar was trafficked. "So it is a lot of corruption."

"They are trying to blame the Venezuelans. They will create more xenophobia."

Describing the CoP's remarks as "bad news," she predicted it would lead to more crime.

She said she herself had reached Trinidad and Tobago as a youngster and was a "child of Trinidad and Tobago," a country she loved very much.

"But every day I am disappointed about the treatment and the message that the people in the higher authorities are encouraging – negative things concerning Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago. People are coming here to work. They just want to send money to the family. They may have some criminals, yes, well okay, deal with criminals but don't victimise everybody."

She lamented that Venezuelans in the Immigration Detention Centre were not even getting to go before the law courts but remained locked up. "If you don't want them, send them back one time. Don't keep them locked up, six months, having no case and no lawyer. That is a violation of human rights. Women are suffering inside there, the way they treat them, the way they abuse them." She alleged detainees in the IDC were beaten.

"The more you create xenophobia is the worse Trinidad and Tobago will get.

"What you give the Universe, is what you will get. What they are giving, that negativity, is going to come right back."