Shipwrecks: Six months between hope and despair

OCTOBER 23 marks six months since the shipwreck of the first of two boats loaded with people between Venezuela and TT.
To date, no trace has been found of 59 of the 70 travellers trying to reach the coast of Trinidad, fleeing the crisis in their homeland.

Relatives and friends of the victims have been left in suspense since the first boat, the Jhonnalys José, was shipwrecked in the deep waters of the Boca de Dragon, the usual course for boats that bring illegal migrants to TT. Three weeks later, the second, the Ana Maria, disappeared in the same area.
On the night of April 23, the small boat Jhonnalys José, with 37 people on board, departed from La Salina, in the Venezuelan state of Sucre, and sank near Patos Island.

Sixteen fishing boats and a Venezuelan navy boat began a search. The TT Coast Guard joined in.

Nine passengers were found in the water: Yusmarys Lezama, 26; Francisco Martínez, 21; Yusleidys Merchan, 23; Angélica Mata, 24; Katherine Díaz, 22; Yadelin Jiménez,17; Carlos Lafont, 29; Yorkelis Zurita, 16; and Eduardo Pacheco, 33 – in addition to the lifeless body of Dailysmar Betancourt,16.
Francisco Martínez, captain of the boat, told Venezuelan authorities a strong wave took them by surprise and overturned the boat.

Carolina Aguilera, sister of Anabell Aguilera, 22, who disappeared in that first shipwreck, said her sister “decided to leave Venezuela because she no longer had a way to feed her six-year-old daughter.”

In conversation with Newsday, still emotional and with tears in her eyes, Aguilera said a woman rescued from the accident had said in Venezuela that Anabell and other people were still alive at sea.
"One of my sisters in Venezuela filed a complaint with the police, but there are no answers. They searched for the first few days and since then nobody answers us," she said.

Aguielra has been in TT for several months with her four children, and was waiting for her sister to help her take care of them so that they could send money to the rest of their family.

Three weeks later, on May 16, another vessel sank in the same place – the Ana María, with 33 people on board.
One of them has been seen alive: Captain Alberto Abreu, currently wanted by Venezuelan justice. The passengers have not been found, including six members of a family.

Dianmili de Guanipa, still visibly affected, said, “My husband (Luis Guanipa, 46), my brother (Antonio López, 44), my daughter (Katherine Berra, 28), my daughter-in-law (Maroly Bastardo, 22, who was eight months pregnant) and her two children (Dylan, three, and Victoria, two) disappeared on that journey.
“My husband went to Venezuela to look for them because of the economic situation and the lack of doctors for the birth of my third grandson.
"They left Guiria at 4pm and sent a photo of the boat already at sea. From there we didn't know about them.”

De Guanipa is in TT with three children, one of them Kennier, husband of the pregnant woman and father of the two children.
"We are devastated. We spent several days and nights in Chaguaramas waiting for them, but they did not arrive," he said.

De Guanipa said, “My son and I decided to file the complaint with the police in Port of Spain after the registration opened by the TT government. We were illegal here (at the time) and we were afraid of being arrested.

"The official who attended to us did not want to take note of anything, nor did she give us a paper. She just told us that they were going to find out.”
According to unofficial figures collected by family members and survivors, 59 people went missing from the two vessels. No Venezuelan or TT authority has ruled in this regard.

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) says more than 80 Venezuelans have died or disappeared in the Caribbean Sea in 2019.