Baby among 17 Venezuelans found in abandoned Trinidad hotel

Chatham Beach in South Trinidad.

(Trinidad Guardian) Sev­en­teen Venezue­lans have been caught hid­ing in an aban­doned ho­tel in­fest­ed with bats and rats at Chatham South beach.

They were picked up by the T&T Coast Guard af­ter dawn, hav­ing been dropped off by a Venezue­lan pirogue.

Among the 17 Venezue­lans were nine fe­males, one of whom is preg­nant, a ba­by and sev­en men.

A source said the women were hid­ing in the aban­doned ho­tel; while some were found in the bush­es and on the beach.

The pa­trolling of­fi­cers be­came alert­ed when they saw a few cars, wait­ing to pick up the Venezue­lans.

For this week, sev­er­al hun­dred Venezue­lans have been de­tained by po­lice and lat­er re­leased af­ter re­ceiv­ing Or­ders of Su­per­vi­sion.

On Tues­day, 112 peo­ple were ar­rest­ed at Beach Camp, Pa­lo Seco.

They were hid­ing in the forests off Aguil­era Trace. Be­fore the po­lice found them, more than 80 young Venezue­lan women were shut­tled away from the Pa­lo Seco area in max­is.

At Fullar­ton Beach, 12 more Venezue­lans were ar­rest­ed, while at Erin, 58 were found.

Po­lice said as the May 31 reg­is­tra­tion draws near­er, hun­dreds of Venezue­lans are flee­ing to Trinidad, des­per­ate to es­cape star­va­tion and dis­ease in their home­land.