Parents of Venezuelan boy shot dead by Coast Guard interviewed by Immigration

DARIELVIS Sarabia and her husband Yermi Santoyo, the parents of one-year-old Yaelvis Santoyo who was shot dead by the Coast Guard on February 5, visited the Immigration Department on Henry Street, Port of Spain on Wednesday.

Both were interviewed and were made to sign documents giving them permission to stay in Trinidad pending the outcome of ongoing investigations into the shooting death of their son. They are to report to a police station once a week with their documents.

Sarabia walked very slowly with her left arm in a sling after she underwent surgery last week to repair bones in her shoulder which were damaged by a Coast Guard officer's bullet.

She, her son Yaelvis and daughter Danna, two, were in a boat on February 5 heading to Trinidad when they were intercepted by the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard claimed officers fired at the boat's engines in self-defence after efforts were made to ram the officers' boats, while the immigrants claim they received no warning from the Coast Guard, who fired two flares into the air, one of which landed in the boat, and then gunshots rang out.

Yaelvis was shot in the head and died in his mother's arms. He was buried after a funeral last week.

As she leaned on her husband, after they left the Immigration offices, Darielvis spoke to Newsday in Spanish, saying: "I am very weak, I have had very difficult times and I am still fresh from surgery.”

“She is slowly recovering. She is eating healthy for now with lots of soups to get her strength back,” Santoyo told Newsday, also speaking in Spanish.

They were at Immigration from 9 am-1 pm on Wednesday.

Later, in the company of the director of NGO La Casita, Andreina Briceno, they went to look for a doctor at the Family Planning Association on Oxford Street so Sarabia's wounds could be cleaned and get fresh dressings.

Santoyo said his wife will stay with him at his workplace, a plantation where he has been working for the past few months. He arrived in TT in August and this is his first time in this country.

“I am really worried because since the events occurred I have not returned to work. I have been out of work for more than two weeks, but thank God I have received the support of my bosses and co-workers,” Santoyo said.

He said once his wife recovers fully, they will sit down as a family and decide their next move – whether to stay in Trinidad, return home to Tucupita, Delta Amacuro state, Venezuela or go to another country and try to make a new life for themselves.

“The important thing for now is to wait for my wife to recover from the surgery, for her to regain strength and try to get over emotionally from the death of our son. We have important decisions to make as a family for the well-being of our daughter Danna,” he said.