Editorial
Newsday
WHEN it comes to Venezuela, the only certain thing is that its people will continue to suffer. If Nicolás Maduro remains in power, they will suffer. If Donald Trump invades, they will suffer, too: ordinary civilians could bear the brunt of military action and then a power vacuum and then rushed regime change.
Trinidad and Tobago, under the Keith Rowley administration, offered Venezuelans a “registration” scheme to allow them to work. But the PNM presented no coherent policy and seemed unwilling to act with a strong moral compass; the state dragged its feet on allowing Venezuelan children to go to school and their parents were given no certainty under the renewable scheme. Yet, what little the PNM left in place the UNC government has upended.
The ongoing exodus of Venezuelan migrants is the most striking crystallisation yet of the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration’s “TT First” doctrine. It is a doctrine in which, as of October 27, refugees and asylum seekers are no longer subject to supervision orders; ministers speak of “mass deportations;” and all migrants are painted with the same brush as violent criminals. Those currently selling fridges and beds on Facebook to raise ticket fares, we are told, are “narco-terrorists.”
The ideological basis for all of this was gingerly previewed by Ms Persad-Bissessar a few weeks ago at the UN General Assembly.
“Small countries like Trinidad and Tobago suffer from illegal immigration,” she told the world. “This is not phobia or hyperbole; it is simply the truth.”
In her selective truth, “Illegal immigration neglects all checks and balances and will only create long-term disorder as most illegal immigrants will not be able to assimilate into the existing societies, inevitably leading to greater poverty, crime and cultural antagonism.”
Yet, if there is “antagonism” involving migrants, it seems to be coming primarily from the state. Police statistics suggest Venezuelans arrested and charged for criminal offences number in the hundreds. This, when the last UNHCR figures reportedly counted 3,282 legal refugees, 31,260 legal asylum seekers, and 5,517 people in need of protection. But the government is more concerned with offering a story, not evidence. It is a xenophobic story calculated to resonate with its supporters.
The risk is, however, that what is politically expedient will damage not only the economy, given the jobs Venezuelan migrants were willing to do, but also social cohesiveness. Parang, pastelles, ponche a crème – these are but a few seasonal relics of our genetic ties with our closest neighbour, ties the UNC seeks forcibly to unbind. With at least 223,639 TT nationals fully “assimilated” in the US, 105,965 in Canada, and 25,000 in the UK, the biggest betrayal, though, is to ourselves and our own history of following dreams. As the state closes this door, the world, and not just Venezuela, is watching.
