PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Affairs Minister Denis Moses says the National Security Council has established an inter-ministerial team to examine the impact of an increasing number of legal and illegal Venezuelans into Trinidad and Tobago.
Moses told the Senate on Tuesday that while he could not provide the exact number of Venezuelans now entering the country, Venezuelans were fleeing their and entering Trinidad and Tobago “in a regular and irregular manner.”
He said the Security Council had established the ministerial team “whose mandate is to present options for this country’s response to the issue.
Migrant issue being reviewed
“The inter-ministerial team’s draft response of Trinidad and Tobago to the Venezuelan migrant issue is being reviewed. Additionally the Ministry of National Security has been working with stakeholders, including international organizations to assess the needs of the migrants with a view to determining sustainable solutions that may be considered,” Moses said.
He told legislators that any mass migration phenomenon “requires a collaborative methodical and deliberate approach in view of the fact that there are a variety of economic, social psychosocial, health and security issues that must be taken into account.
“The government of Trinidad and Tobago is therefore working assiduously to ensure that any policy enacted takes due cognizance of these issue….”.
Two million people have fled Venezuela
The United Nations said recently that nearly two million people have fled Venezuela’s economic and political crisis since 2015, as it called for a “non-political” response to the exodus that is straining regional resources.
The UN said that an estimated 5,000 people are leaving the South American country daily and some Caribbean countries, such as Guyana, which despite having a border dispute with Caracas said that it is prepared to accept Venezuelans “once the enter the country by legal means”.
Moses told legislators despite reports that many of the Venezuelans arriving here were being exploited “ours is one that’s governed by good neighborliness and the rule of law”.
