Almost 40,000 Venezuela migrants here by next year

Nov 24, 2019 News

– Health Ministry’s resources feel the squeeze

By Leonard Gildarie

The projections are placing the number of Venezuela migrants in Guyana by next year at almost 40,000.

Minister Volda Lawrence and host, Leonard Gildarie, during ‘The Political Show’ on Wednesday.

The situation is creating challenges to the Ministry of Public Health and other state resources.
Minister Volda Lawrence has since described the situation as a ticking “time bomb”.
Minister Lawrence made the disclosures, Wednesday, while a guest on ‘The Political Show’ on Kaieteur Radio.
Questioned by host, Leonard Gildarie, about the challenges faced by the Health Ministry on the influx, the Minister admitted that Guyana’s scarce resources are indeed feeling it.
Indeed, a number of Caribbean and South American countries have already been tightening up their borders.
Trinidad and Tobago has been facing major crime problems, with blame placed on gangs from Venezuela.
In Guyana, hundreds of Guyanese who had migrated to Venezuela years ago have returned amid hardship in that neighbouring, Spanish-speaking country.
Hundreds of thousands of them have fled that oil rich country to other neighbouring countries.
Venezuelans nearer to the border area of Guyana have travelled across.
There are more than 10,000 of them in Guyana, with children being placed in schools as part of a regularization process.
On the coastlands, there is an increasing presence. This is evident in stores and homes being rented. Recently on the East Bank Demerara, pockets of the migrants were found squatting on the sea defence reserves.
The situation has the Government rattled but Guyana has not immediately taken a decision to restrict the Venezuelan migrants.
Certain that radio listeners would stop and listen, Lawrence dropped the bombshell on Wednesday.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have

projected that Guyana will have between 35,000- 38,000 Venezuelan migrants in the country by next year.
The Minister was quick to point out that the figures could change quickly depending on what happens in Venezuela.
Insisting that Guyana is a blessed place, the Minister said that Guyana is sitting on a “time bomb” with porous borders not helping the situation.
Already, the government has established a task force to manage the Venezuelan migrants’ situation.
Representatives of the Joint Services, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Citizenship and well the Civil Defence Commission are all part of that Task Force.
She disclosed that the Task Force came up with protocols once a Venezuelan enters, he or she has to be registered and documented.
They are directed in cases by the army and immigration personnel to visit the nearest health centres.
Already, the Minister said, there are measures in place that migrants have to be tested unless they are able to produce a medical passport.
In the absence of medical information, the migrants are immediately inoculated.
Indeed, Lawrence admitted, it is a challenge with health personnel monitoring for Yellow Fever, Dengue, Diphtheria, and other illnesses.
She said that the porous borders would have seen Venezuelans entering and moving to villages, living there, many of them from the same tribe.
Until now, there have been little details of the Venezuelans here.
Government with CDC and its partners have been registering them, handing out food and cleaning supplies.
The situation has been that the authorities are trying to keep up, depending on residents, village leaders and others to report the presence of the migrants.
On the river bank area, between Herstelling and Diamond, East Bank Demerara, scores of Venezuelan migrants built rickety shacks and are living with no running water or toilets. For months, they were under the radar.
The authorities, following the story in Kaieteur News last week, visited the area, sharing our supplies.
The Venezuelans, many of them with small children, are to be relocated.

Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix and team visiting the Grove/Diamond river banks area last week where Venezuelan migrants have been squatting.

On Thursday, Minister Lawrence disclosed on the show, a team from her Ministry, was set to visit Region Seven to check on a situation there.
It is costing the government big time. There are more vaccines and reagents for tests needed with medication in demand.
In fact, many of the Venezuelans are coming with diabetes, hypertension, with even cases of patients needing dialysis–a very expensive treatment for kidney failure.
The migrants, obviously, don’t have money to visit private hospitals.
“So it is the public health system that feels the brunt of it.”
Guyana, to deal with the situation, has been getting help from Washington and Geneva.
Lawrence disclosed that the extra vaccines, mopping up exercises, the logistics of moving doctors and nurses, and sending them to border areas all have a cost.
She lauded the CDC and the Catholic Church for playing a big role in handling the situation.
Earlier this month, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) launched a US$1.35B regional plan to respond to the increasing humanitarian needs of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the communities hosting them. Guyana is likely to benefit.
As of early November 2019, IOM said, there were approximately 4.6 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela around the world. Nearly 80 percent are in Latin American and Caribbean countries – with no prospect for return in the short to medium term. If current trends continue, 6.5 million Venezuelans could be outside the country by the end of 2020.
The 2020 Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) being launched in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, is a coordination and a fundraising tool established and implemented by 137 organisations. These are working across the region, aiming to reach almost four million people – including Venezuelan refugees and migrants and host communities – in 17 countries.
The plan includes actions in nine key sectors: health; education; food security; integration; protection; nutrition; shelter; relief items and humanitarian transport; and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). In addition to the emergency response, the 2020 RMRP puts a strong focus on ensuring the social and economic inclusion of refugees and migrants.