Click to view full size

Ot­to Car­ring­ton

The La Ca­sita His­pan­ic Cul­tur­al Cen­tre is urg­ing both lo­cal and in­ter­na­tion­al au­thor­i­ties to safe­guard the rights of Venezue­lan mi­grants and asy­lum seek­ers in T&T, amid grow­ing fears of de­por­ta­tion and es­ca­lat­ing diplo­mat­ic ten­sions be­tween Port-of-Spain and Cara­cas.

La Ca­sita man­ag­ing di­rec­tor An­dreina Briceño Ven­tu­ra-Brown said yes­ter­day that mis­in­for­ma­tion and fear have spread rapid­ly through Venezue­lan com­mu­ni­ties fol­low­ing re­cent Gov­ern­ment state­ments about de­por­ta­tion and the tem­po­rary clo­sure of UN­HCR’s lo­cal of­fice.