A team appointed by Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly will travel to T&T and Grenada in the coming days as part of their investigation of the disappearance of two boats in the Gulf of Paria over the past month.
As part of their probe, they are trying to locate a Venezuelan man who was picked up in waters 30 miles off Chaguaramas.
He has been reported to be the captain of the one of the missing vessels, the Ana María.
Carlos Valero, a member of the Foreign Policy Commission of the National Assembly, said the case of the missing vessels will be referred to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the High Commissioner for Venezuelan Migration, Eduardo Stein.
“We will take these two cases to international bodies because of the inaction of the Venezuelan authorities over the disappearance of more than 50 people,” he said.
Valero, who is leading investigations into the disappearance of the two vessels, visited Güiria earlier this week with National Assembly deputies Robert Alcalá, Milagros Paz and Denncis Pazos.
“The intention is not to politicise these cases, but to increase efforts to find that group of missing Venezuelans,” he said.
In the first missing vessel, the Jonaily José, which sailed from Güiria on April 23, 25 of the 35 people on board are not accounted for, while in the second boat which left on May 16, the Ana María, there were 33 passengers.
The captain of that vessel was reportedly rescued at sea and taken to Grenada.
Police in Grenada said yesterday they are investigating the circumstances in which that Venezuelan national disappeared from a public hospital where he had been taken for medical treatment last week.
They said last week Friday they received a call from the crew of a vessel travelling to St Lucia, that a man was rescued from the sea in the waters between T&T and Grenada.
“In accordance with the humanitarian provisions of international conventions governing the rescue of distressed persons at sea, priority was given to providing medical treatment for the rescued man, who was determined to be in need of urgent medical attention,” the police said in a statement.
The Venezuelan national, who was not identified, was taken to the General Hospital in Grenada for medical care but while receiving medical attention he “left the hospital without the authorisation of the relevant authority.”
Valero, whose said his team is trying to locate that missing Venezuelan, are also looking into possible links to a gang leader in north Trinidad who is reported part of human trafficking network operating between T&T and Venezuela.