… in light of Venezuelan influx

MORE than 18 Venezuelan students are being accommodated in a Whitewater Village school as Region One continues to assist them in finding relief from socio-economic hardships in their homeland.

Regional Chairman Brentnol Ashley told the Guyana Chronicle that Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson and a team of education officials are currently assessing operations in the region and are giving some attention to Venezuelan children who have been able to access education here.

According to Ashley, a large number of Venezuelans continue to cross the Guyana border and educating their children is proving difficult because of the language barrier. “These are children with Guyanese parents who had moved to Venezuela and are now back in the Region.”

Ashley related that the Ministry of Education’s team is focused on improving education delivery in the region, but now has to examine ways to help teach the Spanish-speaking nationals since it is highly likely that more displaced children may seek schooling here.

Efforts are also on the way to render humanitarian assistance to Venezuelans as the region awaits a report from the United Nations’ Refugee Agency for guidance with the type of assistance that could be rendered. The Regional Chairman explained that the UN agency had visited their health and other representatives to determine the specifics of services needed.

Representatives of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) also visited the region to assess the situation and offer its services where necessary. Ashley is adamant, however, that more has to be done by local non-governmental organisations to deliver relief to Venezuelans; calling on agencies such as Food for the Poor and other donor agencies to get on board.

In terms of security, Ashley said no fresh reports of the Venezuelan ‘El Sindicato’ gang, which was giving a scare to border communities, have been received. He recalled that a call was made by President David Granger to have community members, particularly young persons, join or associate themselves with security agencies such as CPGs to protect their communities.

“The police and the army cannot be everywhere. We want you to be able to protect your own community …,” Granger had told Whitewater and surrounding villagers when he visited the areas earlier in the year.

The Chairman said that while such security partnerships are still in the making, it is an area that the residents are very open to. Ashley said that border communities continue to try their best with the influx of Venezuelans coming to Guyana. Ashley had contacted the government noting that local services were being pressured because of fleeing Venezuelans. He had asked the government to provide the villages with additional medication, security and social services support.

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Sub-committee on Security, and a team had recently visited four border communities and committed more police ranks to ensuring security in those locations. He said regardless how sporadic the complaints against the ‘El Sindicatos’ are, they are a concern that have to be addressed.
Ramjattan spoke of aerial surveillance and other measures to tackle security concerns at the border.