Guyana is intent on working with its neighbours and the international community to monitor and manage the health of Venezuelan migrants so that any possible pandemic can be nipped in the bud.
“If you have 12 or 15 people moving and they are ill with malaria or measles and these types of afflictions then there is a danger posed, especially to our indigenous peoples, of possible pandemic. That is one area in which we need special help to monitor and to make sure we have the vaccinations and that people can be vaccinated and inoculated as appropriate,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge explained to a press conference on Monday.
Currently, authorities are working to find all migrants so that they can be screened and registered since at this stage the Latin American and Caribbean Region views the prosecution of Venezuelans for immigration offences “dysfunctional and insensitive.”
Greenidge repeatedly stressed that government is working to find migrants and establish their status so that they can get the necessary health care.
““The greatest requirements is being able to identify the movers and their health status, unless people move in numbers that constitute a significant threat, the significance of their movement lie in being able to identify their health status…We have been working on that since last year in conjunction with the Regional Health Authorities and the Brazilians. We would like to be able to work with all our neighbours since that poses a bigger threat immediately than anything else,” he explained.
Speaking at the Ministry’s headquarters on South Road, Greenidge noted that he is unsure of the exact number of persons seeking refuge in the border regions but assured that his ministry as well as the Ministries of Citizenship, Public Health and Communities, are monitoring the situation.
“Those involved in the border area, Regions 1, 7 and 8 in particular, are essentially indigenous folk and that makes it difficult to… give with any preciseness the numbers [because] traditionally they have traversed these borders without regarding them as physical barriers. So for a number of them the movements you are seeing is normal movements whereas for others they might have been having difficulties arising from shortages or disturbances,” the Minister said.
He stressed that while some come to Guyana and spend two weeks then move, others come and sit on this side of the border, so arrangements are being made to ensure that those who arrive on this side are accommodated in circumstances acceptable to both the Government of Guyana and the international community.
Homestead
Government had previously announced that it would set up a homestead on land located between Mabaruma Compound and Silver Hill for the hundreds who were seeking refuge but the Ministry of the Presidency on Monday announced that Cabinet is still to decide on the matter.
In a press statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Press and Publicity Unit explained that Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix had noted that in July, during an engagement with the officials from the regional office and the municipality of Region One, the recommendation for land to be issued was proffered and the Council indicated that it was willing to make representation to a private land owner for permission to use his land.
“The Department of Citizenship was looking at the recommendation in terms of its feasibility to implement it but the Government has not made a decision on that issue; it is being dealt with at the level of the Department,” he is reported as saying.
Greenidge, though unable to give the number of migrants, said that it was unlikely that the population has reached 500 persons.
“More difficult to estimate is those not coming to border areas. From time to time you will find three or five in Georgetown and if it’s happening in Georgetown it is happening elsewhere,” he said, adding that while government has not waived immigration requirements for Venezuelans, they are looking to apply the law correctly.
“We have tried to ensure that we make allowances for the nature of the movement between Guyana and Venezuela. The reality is if you are 50 miles or 100 miles away from the nearest village or town they often feel it is not warranted to do that great diversion (travelling to a port) just to register so they just cross. What the law requires is that once that happens and they are found then they are prosecuted and deported but given the circumstances and the number involved…we decided not to criminalize those who cross without ulterior motive,” Greenidge said.
Earlier this year, Region One Chairman Brentnol Ashley had said that there was a measles outbreak in that area but Minister within the Ministry of Public Health Dr Karen Cummings had denied this report.
“As you know there was a measles outbreak in Boa Vista, and it came from Venezuela and we know our borders being porous with Brazilians and Venezuelans coming over, but so far we have received no reports of a measles outbreak in Guyana,” the Minister had said.
She further noted that the Ministry has in place preventative measures to deal with such a situation, including the administering of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR)
vaccine.
In July, several international media outlets reported that hundreds of cases of measles had been recorded among the Yanomami people in remote areas along Venezuela’s border with Brazil.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Region of the Americas free of measles in September 2016 but Venezuela has reportedly suffered several outbreaks.
In June, a Disease Outbreak bulletin from WHO reported that the strain of measles being recorded in Brazil is identical to that recorded during the 2017 Venezuela outbreak.
In March of this year, the first case of measles appeared among the Yanomami among whom the vaccination rate is low since they live in voluntary isolation.
According to reports findings from the Special Indigenous Health District for the Yanomami and Iekuana show that recent migratory waves from Venezuela led to 67 confirmed cases in four months.
Additionally, the WHO bulletin noted that from 1 January through 23 May, 2018, there were 995 reported cases, of which 114 have been laboratory confirmed, including two deaths.
In Roraima, the Brazilian state closest to Guyana, 384 suspected cases were reported, of which 84 were confirmed, 20 discarded and 280 were still under investigation.
“Of the 84 confirmed cases, 58 are among Venezuelans, 24 Brazilians, one from Guyana and 1 Argentinian. Of all confirmed cases, 34 are indigenous. Two measles deaths were among Venezuelans from Boa Vista municipality,” the bulletin reports.
At the beginning of July, 100 Venezuelan immigrants of Warrau descent had arrived in the Mabaruma sub-district, prompting Ashley, using his personal Facebook page, to solicit donations on behalf of the Regional Disaster Relief Committee for the “urgent assistance” to provide clothing, food and other supplies for the Venezuelans.
Ashley told Stabroek News that the Venezuelans would have previously occupied land along the Orinoco and Amacuro rivers and travelled to Guyana to escape the harsh economic situation facing Venezuela.
Subsequent to this, a multi-agency meeting, which included representatives from the Guyana Police Force, the ministries of Communities, Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Social Protection, Public Health, Citizenship, and the Civil Defence Commission, was convened to discuss the way forward in handling the situation. It was later announced that the Ministry of Citizenship and the Mayor and Town Council of Mabaruma identified a plot of land for the establishment of a homestead settlement area or humanitarian centre for the registered Venezuelans who are occupying areas in the region.
