— Vice-President Jagdeo

VENEZUELANS who have migrated to Guyana because of the economic hardship in their homeland must be treated with dignity and respect, Vice-President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said while addressing a gathering of residents at the Charity Secondary School, Region Two, on Wednesday.

Mr Jagdeo pointed out to the residents, some of whom are Venezuelans migrants, that Guyana in the 1970s and 1980s experienced similar hardships currently confronting the people of Venezuela and many Guyanese who fled the country found a new and accommodating home in Venezuela.

Today, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition have been locked in a bitter power struggle and for years the country has been experiencing hyperinflation, shortages of food and medicines and other problems.

According to a BBC report, more than five million Venezuelans have fled their country because of the economic crisis and growing political discontent.

Vice-President Jagdeo told the gathering at the Charity Secondary School that the government will help Guyanese who have returned to Guyana because of the crisis in Venezuela, as well as Venezuelan migrants who have come to these shores.

These people, he said, must be treated as family and should not be discriminated against and all efforts should be made to get the children of the migrants in school.

Data from the Ministry of Education indicated that in April and May 2019, some 740 Venezuelan children between the ages of five and 16 were enrolled in the public education system.

The government, Mr Jagdeo said, will continue to provide assistance to the migrants, including the provision of healthcare and passports for those with blood relatives in Guyana.

REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), between August 3 to August 5, 2021, Guyana’s immigration officials in Region One registered and documented over 200 Venezuelan refugees and migrants and issued to them government registration certificates.

UNHCR has also reported that as of December 2020, there were over 22,000 Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Guyana. Venezuelan migrants have been seeking to build a life in many countries, including Guyana, since the onset of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela in the mid-2000s.

Guyana has seen a consistent influx of citizens from the Spanish-speaking nation and officials here have been working to facilitate them.

The government registration certificate issued to migrants and refugees incorporates a legal-stay permit issued and renewed by the Government of Guyana. This permit allows those individuals the chance to not just legally stay in Guyana, but also to work, earn and educate themselves.

DISPERSING
A large number of Venezuelan migrants have settled in Region One and they have been increasingly making their way into Regions Two, Four, Seven and Nine.

However, their stay here has not been without unease to locals. Recently, more than 35 families, all Venezuelan migrants had to be relocated from Arpiaco, Region Two, to Region One after reports surfaced that they had vandalised farmlands in the Pomeroon village.

A report carried by this newspaper on March 10 noted that 135 persons of the Warrau tribe from Venezuela were relocated from Arpiaco, Upper Pomeroon, to Region One by ranks of the Guyana Police Force and the Defence Force Coast Guard.

The group of refugees had reportedly entered the Pomeroon in their canoes in search of shelter and food and decided to stop at Kabakaburi, Upper Pomeroon, where they were given a piece of land to clear at Arpiaco but in the process vandalised several farms.

Regional officials had also responded to the pleas of the Warraus and provided them food hampers and medical care to the sick and those in need of urgent attention.

Vice-President Jagdeo urged regional officials on Wednesday to ensure that the migrants in Region One are treated well, that they are properly settled and to see how their children could get into school.

International Office for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission, Robert Natiello in August last year lauded the government’s commitment and treatment of the affected Venezuelans.