National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has been given 24 hours to respond to a pre-action protocol letter sent by the representing attorneys of over 20 Venezuelan migrants who are now requesting urgent refugee status in light of weekend’s tragedy in which baby Ya Elvis Santoyo was fatally shot by Coast Guard officers while in his mother’s arms in a pirogue bound for Trinidad from Tucupita, Venezuela.
The letter, dated February 10 from Criston J Williams & Company Attorneys-at-Law, included witness statements obtained from three clients—Luis Alexis Ramirez Cabral, 52; Katiuska Daniela Gutierrez, 22, and Lesbia Margarita Saavedra, 46.
“It is prudent to obtain an undertaking from you to ensure our clients are not deported to the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela during the investigative stages. Any such removal or interference would obstruct the conduct of an ongoing investigation and constitute refoulement,” the letter to the minister said.
“In the exercise of your discretion, we invite you to consider the principle of non-refoulement stated in the United Nations Covenant on civil and political rights of 1966 and its applicability to our clients as “the only adequate manner in which to determine whether an individual can be safely sent elsewhere is to establish first that his or her life or freedom will not be threatened in the destination country, either due to lack of adequate protection there or because of insufficient procedural safeguards against onwards removal somewhere else,” it added.
The letter also made mention of the Refugee Convention which “thus requires States to assess whether people have protection needs through an individual examination of each case. The same applies under international human rights law.”
The attorneys gave Hinds a 24-hour window to acknowledge receipt of their correspondence and to provide a substantive response to the undersigned at CristonJ. Williams & Company on or before Monday.
“Failure to do so will result in legal proceedings being commenced against you without delay and further notice to you pursuant. This letter is issued in accordance with the pre-action protocol set out in the practice direction,” the letter said,
The attorneys said their clients have instructed them to facilitate their request to seek refugee status with the local arm of the UNHCR as they may be described as persons “who, due to “a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
Excerpt of witness statements given to representing lawyers
Following their departure from Tucupita, Venezuela, on the night of February 5, 2022, a boat with 37 passengers inclusive of 17 adults and 20 children made its way to T&T.
At departure, their boat had two engines. One had difficulties and kept cutting off.
Upon approaching Moruga, Trinidad, the engine cut off once again and they had difficulties moving in the water.
As they were slowly coming along they heard a loud voice followed by two flares. One flare was shot into the air and the other flare was fired at their boat.
Shortly after the flares, they heard loud banging noises and realised that their boat was being shot at by the approaching vessel which fired the flares.
Venezuelan Dari Elvis Eliagnis Sarabia, holding her baby Ya Elvis Santoyo, who was shot at sea.
They then realised it was the Coast Guard vessel occupied by approximately six officers. Approximately 20 shots were fired at their boat.
At this point in time, the Coast Guard vessel was 30 meters away.
They claimed the Coast Guard only ceased fire upon hearing a woman crying that her child had been shot.
The Coast Guard vessel slowly approached their boat and upon realising that the baby had been shot, they called for a second much larger vessel to assist.
The statements claimed at no time the Venezuelans had any weapon nor did they fire at the Coast Guard.
When the larger CG vessel arrived, they first took the mother of the deceased child off the boat and placed her upon their vessel.
The officers then began taking the remaining migrants off the boat and placed them onto their vessel while the deceased baby remained on the boat.
Upon reaching the shore, the Venezuelans were taken to the Chaguaramas Heliport.
What the Coast Guard reported
While conducting patrols along the South Coast of Trinidad just before midnight on Saturday 5, February 2022, TTS Scarborough detected a vessel that crossed the border between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. This vessel was subsequently pursued and attempted to evade.
All available methods were used including the use of the loud hailer, ship’s horn, searchlight and flares to try to get the suspect vessel to stop, however, the vessel continued to attempt to evade.
In keeping with standard protocols, warning shots ahead of the vessel were next employed. This measure also proved futile. At this time, the ship’s boat from TTS Scarborough attempted to intercept the vessel, however, the vessel continued with aggressive manoeuvres, first coming into contact with the ship’s boat and then making attempts to ram it.
The vessel eventually stopped and only then it was discovered that there were illegal migrants on board who had remained hidden and were therefore not seen before. Further checks discovered one adult female illegal migrant who was holding an infant and who indicated that she was bleeding.
The vessel was immediately brought alongside TTS Scarborough and the injured female was subsequently stabilised. Regrettably, the infant was found to be unresponsive.
