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Venezuelans in T&T struggle to send goods home

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Venezuelan nationals living in T&T are attempting to send medicine and basic health supplies with family and friends who are travelling to Venezuela. However, most of these supplies are being confiscated at the airports by the National Authorities.

This was yesterday disclosed by Wilman Castillo, member of the Vast Majority of Concerned Venezuelans, living in T&T.

Castillo said the group, which is made up of Venezuelan professionals, fled Venezuela in 2003 because of the massive social and economic crisis that was already starting to flourish with the Hugo Chavez regime. 

Many of the members have found better and safer living conditions for their families here in T&T. 

The group wanting to send help to Venezuela have also reached out to other humanitarian institutions but have encountered stumbling blocks.

“They have expressed their sympathy and willingness to help from the Trinidad side but they are restricted by the government of Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has restricted any international collaboration from humanitarian or private institutions,” Castillo alleged.

“We understand directly the unprecedented struggle and crisis that they are facing. We believe that if the media helps in uncovering the horror and the crisis situation that the Venezuelans are currently experiencing, and puts pressure on the international organisations like Red Cross and the UN to provide humanitarian support, this will stop and the Maduro regime will have no choice but to allow the international help. Which by the way has already been offered and rejected,” Castillo added. 

Presently, the group, Castillo disclosed, are mostly concerned about children and other patients, including cancer patients and other critical medical conditions, for which medicine is urgently needed. 

“All our hospitals are in a deplorable status thanks to the negligence of this government (Venezuelan) over the last 15 years and with Maduro now has worsened. We hope we can help more people to survive,” Castillo said.

Attempts are being made now to send medical supplies via travellers to Venezuela in as many quantities as they can carry.

“We only know of Venezuelans and other Trinidadian friends that have helped and have been very supportive of the situation because at the moment we cannot send help in bulk. However, it is very insignificant the help we can send this way,” Castillo added.

When contacted for comment with respect to any request being made yet by any individual or groups to send aid to Venezuela, president of the T&T Red Cross Society, Lister Ramjohn, said no formal requests have been made so far but added that once requests were made and they were informed by the international body they would be ready and more than eager to assist.

Nicholas Maduro will pay a one-day visit to T&T on Monday.

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In February, Maduro issued a decree proclaiming an economic emergency and announced the first increase in the price of gasoline in 17 years. Thanks to inflation, gas had become practically free for Venezuelans: filling a tank cost less than 50 cents. But Maduro’s move had little impact: gas remains extremely cheap, at about six cents a gallon. This means that domestic consumption remains too high, and Venezuelan drivers use oil that could be sold on international markets at much higher prices. The incentives for smugglers to sell oil to neighbouring countries such as Colombia at great profit remain unchanged.

The president also devalued the national currency, the bolivar, by more than 60 per cent, hoping to reduce the wide gap that exists between the official rate and the black market exchange rate. But most of the economy still uses an exchange rate that trades at over 100 times the official value, and the peculiar system of multiple exchange rates has contributed to the acute shortages of basic goods. Maduro’s economic reforms have thus been utterly inadequate.

According to an article in the foreignaffairs.com website, on the political front, the government is finally paying the price for its chronic economic mismanagement. The opposition coalition won an impressive majority in the National Assembly in last December’s parliamentary elections. Although Maduro has used his control of the judiciary and other key institutions to resist attempts to curtail his power, even moderates within the opposition (such as Henrique Capriles, two-time presidential candidate and governor of Miranda, one of Venezuela’s largest states) are now advocating a referendum or a constitutional amendment to remove him from office as soon as possible.


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