Team heads to address influx of Venezuelans, returning Guyanese

Jul 06, 2018 News

The government will dispatch a team to neighbouring Venezuela next week in response to growing concerns about the influx of Venezuelans into the country and the increasing number of Guyanese returning home.
Guyana’s team which will visit the eastern Venezuelan community of Puerto Ordaz, will be led by Barbara Haley, Director of the Frontier Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon at his post Cabinet press briefing yesterday, disclosed that the visit is intended to enable the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Citizenship to plan a more effective response to the influx of Venezuelan migrants and returning Guyanese nationals from Venezuela.
He estimated that there are in excess of 15,000 Guyanese living in the Puerto Ordaz area. There has been an influx of Venezuelans entering Guyana as they flee severe economic and political hardships. Guyanese have also been returning due to the upheaval in the South American country.
According to Harmon, currently, there is an honorary consul providing services.
The Minister of State noted that the state must have a more solid arrangement where Guyanese people can get the quality of service that they deserve.
“Wherever our Guyanese citizens live we are looking at providing better consular services to them. This mission is really to look how best we can provide consular services… Venezuelans coming and going and we can provide a better facility at Puerto Ordaz,” Harmon noted.
In recent months, re-migrant Guyanese from Venezuela claimed mineral-rich lands in Ekereku, Region Seven. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that they must be able to prove their citizenship to the satisfaction of immigration authorities. The statement followed a report in sections of the local media that a group was claiming the lands based on the fact that they lived there before heading to Venezuela.
The Ministry had indicated that while the government is committed to ensuring the rights of our indigenous peoples are respected, none of the persons in question has been able to prove their citizenship to the satisfaction of immigration authorities.
Without this proof, they are not entitled to enter Guyana without permission from the relevant authorities.
The Ministry also cited security and other legal issues arising from the persons claiming land where gold is being mined without proper documentation.
Guyana and Venezuela are locked in a decades-old territorial controversy. Guyana has sought legal settlement through the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
Venezuela has backpedaled on its recognition of the United Nations’ authority to determine the outcome of the dispute.