Venezuelan women face high levels of violence from Guyanese men - IDB report

Venezuelan women face high levels of violence from Guyanese men – IDB report

Sep 05, 2022 News

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – Venezuelan women living here are subjected to high levels of violence by their Guyanese male partners, a research conducted by the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) has found.

Venezuelan families celebrating a recent children’s day event in Guyana.

The research was conducted between 2019 and 2021. The study was conducted so that the IDB can approve funding for Guyana to implement policies and build its capacity to protect the Spanish-speaking women who had migrated to Guyana to escape the hardships of their country. Venezuela’s economy crashed after its President, Hugo Chavez died in 2013 and oil prices fell. His predecessor, Nicholas Maduro and his regime have been unable to remedy the situation and the country has ever since been plunged into severe economic crisis. The hardship forced millions of Venezuelans to flee their country by crossing its borders into neighbouring countries just to eke out a living so that their family can survive.

According to the IDB report, Guyana is one of those neighbouring countries that Venezuelans have fled to and based on the research it has done, some 23, 310 Venezuelan migrants are living in the country. However, more than half of the 23,000 migrants are women and they have been on the receiving end of gender-based violence from Guyanese men. “Research conducted in 2019 and 2021 on the incidence and drivers of Gender Based Violence (GBV) among migrant and host communities in Guyana, indicates that Venezuelan women are experiencing high levels of GBV, particularly in the context of relationships with Guyanese men”, the IDB report stated.

The financial institution described one form of GBV against the migrant women as intimate partner violence (IPV) which simply means that they are victims of domestic violence from their Guyanese common-law spouses. Apart from physically harming them, the IDB pointed out that a study conducted in 2021 showed that their spouses would also use economic violence against them. “This often takes the form of economic violence where men would use finances, child custody and threats of taking away the women’s documents just to control them”, IDB explained in its report.

Thurston Semple, an alleged serial rapist convicted of brutally raping a Venezuelan woman.

Additionally, the IDB noted that there “is a prevalence of survival sex work” in Guyana and a Regional Rapid Assessment on Gender-Based Violence conducted in 2019, found that Venezuelan women who engage this practice are often times victims of rape, trafficking, sexual exploitation and other forms of sexual violence. The practice has also subjected the Spanish-speaking women to harmful stereotypes and according to the financial institution, it can lead to them being sexually harassed and abused especially by police and immigration officers. Such abuse from the lawmen can include requests for sexual favours.

Other problems faced by the female migrant population include, bullying, discrimination, xenophobia, and sexual violence against underage Venezuelan girls. As it relates to sexual violence against the underage female Venezuelan population in Guyana, the IDB in its study had found instances of teenage pregnancies in girls as young as 12-years-old. Based on its research, the IDB believes that some of the reasons why Venezuelan women face so much abuse in Guyana can be the challenge to renew their 90 days permit to stay in the country, the language barrier which prevents them from accessing GBV services provided by the relevant authorities, the lack of awareness about such services and fear of the authorities.

Renewal of permits

With regard to the challenge to renew their 90-day-permit, the IDB stated in its report, “A significant number of migrants in Guyana are thus undocumented. Many migrants arriving from Venezuela cannot access formal jobs as they may be undocumented, face a language barrier and lack verifiable identities and credentials that are required to gain access to the labour market. As a result, migrants are socially and economically vulnerable, and can be victimized”.

To help remedy the situation in Guyana, the IDB has promised to provide half (50%) of the total funding needed to bridge the gaps and inadequacies lacking in the country to protect Venezuelan women from the violence they face at the hands of Guyanese men. In March 21, 2021, Kaieteur News had reported of a Venezuelan woman being raped, battered and sodomised by an alleged serial rapist, Thurston Semple, a taxi driver of Tucville, Georgetown, Guyana.

The woman was able to escape her abuser by punching through his louvre windows with her bare hands. Naked and battered, he reportedly continued to beat the woman outside of his home in the presence of his neighbours and threatened to attack anyone who attempted to save her. One brave man, a former Guyanese cricketer intervened and managed to save her from more blows.

Semple has since been found guilty of raping the woman and was sentenced to 11 years behind bars. However, he has several other rape matters pending before the court and all of the victims are Venezuelan women.

Kaieteur News had also reported that a Venezuelan sex worker was lured into a car and beaten and robbed by the driver. It was reported that man tried to forcefully abduct her but she fought back and managed to escape by throwing herself out of his car.

A group of police ranks was also accused of robbing and beating Venezuelan women during a raid at a popular night club in Georgetown. The police officers denied the reports and said that they had raided the club after receiving reports of trafficking in person. The women stood by their accusation but did not press for an investigation because of fear and were satisfied that they were able to tell their story in the local press.

Unverified reports have also reached newspaper, of immigration and police officers at Guyana’s borders, sexually abusing Venezuelan women who request permits to enter Guyana.