Cedros fishermen back home today from Venezuela
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2018-04- ... -venezuelaAfter three days of worry and fear, Cedros housewife Heermatie Sankar yesterday breathe a sigh of relief after receiving news that her husband, son and another fisherman were released and are on their way home from Venezuela.
“I feel happy that they come out, but I just waiting to see them,” said Sankar in a telephone interview. She said she has not spoken to either her husband or son, but someone called her from Venezuela with the good news.
“They out and they okay. Thank God for that. So, I think they suppose to be coming home tomorrow, thank God.
Sankar, however, said she will not be able to rest until they return home. Although fishing is how they earn an income, Sankar is afraid for her son and husband to return to sea.
She said, “I don’t want them to go back right now. Maybe in the next two to three weeks until their mind get at ease because we will always have a fright that they could be arrested again.”
Sankar thanked the boat owner for paying the money for their release. Sankar’s husband Awardnath Hajaire, 52, son Nicholas, 26, and Shami Seepersad, 36, went fishing aboard a pirogue off Cedros last Thursday when they were arrested by the La Guardia Nacional.
A video circulating on social media shows the La Guardia Nacional chasing the pirogue in Trinidad waters where the fishermen were arrested.
According to a release from the Ministry of National Security, the Venezuelan authorities stated the fishermen were caught fishing in Venezuelan waters and the Venezuelan vessel chased them into T&T water where they were arrested. The T&T Guardian was told that the local fishermen paid the fines to authorities in Venezuela.
However, Cedros fishermen claim for years the La Guardia Nacional have been arresting them in T&T water and holding them ransom for food and US dollars.
Offshore workers attached to Trinmar’s’ offshore installations also expressed fear for their safety following the incident and had refused to work.
OWTU’s Trinmar Branch president Ernesto Kesar said yesterday a meeting was held with Trinmar executives and the union on Friday where they addressed the worker’s security concerns.
“They charted a way forward so that the workers resumed work later in the day on Friday because things would have been put in place,” he said.
In a press release yesterday, Naparima MP Rodney Charles questioned whether Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon had abandoned Cedros fishermen and residents in their hour of need.
He questioned whether Moses raised the issue at the OAS, the ambassadors to OAS and Venezuela or Venezuelan authorities.
Charles said Dillon should be more proactively involved given reports of frequent kidnappings of fishermen in T&T waters, thefts of their boats and fishing gear, unregulated arrivals of thousands of refugees from Venezuela, a growing barter trade involving guns and ammunition for food, an epidemic of human trafficking, abuse of Venezuelans here in Trinidad, and poor conditions at the Immigration Detention Centre.
