SASCHA WIL­SON

Af­ter three days on the rough seas, 16 Venezue­lan chil­dren, the youngest a four-month-old ba­by and the el­dest child 14 years, along with 11 adults, most­ly women, re­turned to the shores of Trinidad.

Hun­gry and trem­bling from the cold, they ar­rived short­ly be­fore 1 pm in two pirogues at the Los Iros beach in Erin. 

They were de­port­ed on Sun­day, af­ter be­ing de­tained at a po­lice sta­tion for five days, just hours be­fore the start of court pro­ceed­ings re­gard­ing their sta­tus.  Jus­tice Ava­son Quilans-Williams sub­se­quent­ly or­dered the state to re­turn the mi­grants to the coun­try.  

Daniel, a Venezue­lan na­tion­al who is legal­ly reg­is­tered in Trinidad and who came to greet his cousins, said they had en­gine prob­lems out at sea and nev­er ar­rived in Venezuela.  He told Guardian Me­dia he was hap­py that they were back here.

Fyz­abad res­i­dent Tor­rence Far­ri­er was at the beach when he saw the boats com­ing in.

“We just no­tice that this boat was com­ing in with these peo­ple and what re­al­ly hurt me is the fact that there is a three-month-old child on the boat, and they had to pick up that child to bring that child here,” he told Guardian Me­dia.

Tor­rence Far­ri­er said he felt sad about how the mi­grants were treat­ed by the lo­cal au­thor­i­ties.

“They were cold and hun­gry… It hurt me. That’s why I say ‘Mom, what it have to eat?’ and I take the food and give them.”  He gave them a meal of chick­en, rice, and peas.

The mi­grants were tak­en away in a po­lice bus.

[This sto­ry will be up­dat­ed as more in­for­ma­tion comes to hand.]