Venezuelan migrants in Guyana climb to 2,943

One hundred and sixty-four documented Venezuelan migrants have entered Guyana over the past two weeks.

According to the National Multi-Sectoral Coordinating Committee which is managing the influx of Venezuelan, this now brings the total to 2,943 documented migrants in Guyana.

At its last meeting on October 22, the Immigration Department had recorded a total of 2,779 migrants.

In a statement on Monday evening from the Ministry of the Presidency, it was noted that these persons have all been screened and vaccinated by personnel from the Ministry of Public Health.

Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix told stakeholders at the meeting that the area which needs more attention is the settling of migrants in Barima-Waini (Region One).

“This is a work in progress. My assessment is that both the international agencies and us, have been sharing information and we understand the challenges out there,” the Minister pointed out, adding that there is no room for complacency at this stage.

The National Multi-Sectoral Coordinating Committee comprises of various Government agencies and international bodies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Minister Felix, according to the Ministry of the Presidency, commended the efforts of the Committee at successfully averting potential crises.

The statement noted that given the newness of the situation to Guyana, the Committee’s work has significantly stabilised the situation by ensuring that assistance is directed to where it is most needed.

Coordination with the international agencies has also paved the way for the acquisition of food and other relief items and the introduction of helpful tools such as the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), which hitherto, was not available to the Government.

“When we started, all we knew was that people were assembling here and there, but since then we have been able to provide some sort of temporary shelter for some, while others have been finding shelters for themselves… The coordination has been extremely useful in creating an understanding of what the migrant issues are, what the Government is doing and what the international community is doing,” Minister Felix was quoted as saying in the release.