The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Acnur) warned this Saturday that Venezuelan asylum seekers in Trinidad and Tobago continue to be vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and that they face a multitude of problems.
Last week, the Unit for the Fight against Trafficking in Persons of the Ministry of National Security revealed that the Police were investigating complaints of abuse presented by a Venezuelan woman who had been detained at the Chaguaramas heliport, northwest of the island of Trinidad.
Authorities said that after an investigation into the allegations there were no indications of sexual abuse at the heliport. For its part, UNHCR declared that refugees and asylum seekers “cannot regularize their immigration status, enroll in official educational institutions, access medical care or work legally.”
In this regard, he emphasized that “whenever unavoidable, governments must ensure unimpeded access to legal assistance and advice.” Likewise, the High Commissioner said that he was willing to help the Government “to establish reception mechanisms that offer alternatives to the detention of refugees and migrants.”
A total of 16,523 Venezuelans received a permit from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for the first time in 2019 that authorized them to live and work in the Caribbean country and which was extended, but without meeting expectations.
According to Jiménez, the problem of Cuban refugees begins with the defenselessness they have before the UNHCR itself, which does not adequately manage the cases.
For their part, several Cuban refugees in the country have also denounced the difficulties in processing their asylum application and the close surveillance to which the Cuban Embassy in Port of Spain subjects those who emigrated from the Island. This is the case of Carlos Jimenez Vasco and his wife, a Russian national, Daria Jiménez.
The couple escaped to Havana from Saint Petersburg (Russia) after the invasion of Ukraine, to avoid the possible recruitment of Carlos, and they also fled Cuba after disagreements with their family –affiliated with the regime– and pressure from State Security, towards Trinidad, last April 18.
According to Jiménez, the problem of Cuban refugees begins with the defenselessness they have before the UNHCR itself, which does not adequately manage the cases. After the couple’s campaign to be noticed and the attention of the independent media, little progress has been made with the asylum process.
Interviewed by this newspaper on May 24, Jiménez reported the precarious refuge conditions to which he has been subjected and stated that “every day is a new battle for survival.” “Although the Government of Trinidad and Tobago signed the UN conventions on refugees, it did not ratify them, and for that reason it does not comply with them,” he lamented.
“Only words and no protection,” Jiménez summed up the situation in the Caribbean country. He and his wife also suffered “a scam” by their hosts. “We had to sleep with rats three nights in a row,” he recounted then. By denouncing the situation at the Living Water Community – “UNHCR’s right arm in Trinidad” – the officials seemed to suggest that the homeowners were right. Carlos faced them and reminded himself that as asylum seekers, they also had the right to be treated as human beings.
Several days ago, Jiménez returned to report the stagnation of the situation and the lack of attention from the officials, to which was added the vigilance of the agents of the Cuban Embassy. In contact with various refugees from the island, they told him that they had the impression that Trinidad and Tobago –one of Cuba’s allied countries in the region– practices a “discriminatory policy” with Cubans, for whom immigration services make them wait several years before receiving a response to your process.
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