Saturday’s Express newspaper editorial (June 22, 2019), titled “Wrestling with migrant matters”, requires factual correction in two critical areas.
It is false and wholly untrue to state that the recently concluded Government registration of Venezuelans in Trinidad and Tobago excluded “persons under the age of 18”.
All Venezuelans who presented themselves at one of the three registration centers, including men, women, children and even babies, over the period of May 31 to June 14, 2019 were registered. This misinformation being stated by the Express editorial has no basis in fact whatsoever.
The said editorial concludes on yet another false premise by stating, “But the US has offered assistance to the Government in Port of Spain towards the cost of receiving and maintaining the Venezuelan migrants in our midst. USAID administrator Mark Green is reported (sic) offering some US$1.6 million for such purposes, following a meeting with Minister Young last month. The Trinidad and Tobago public is yet to hear whether the Government has accepted such an offer, and to what use it might be put.”
No such offer was made to Minister Young and the Government has not accepted any financial assistance from USAID, the US government or any other international body in dealing with the Venezuelan migrants in Trinidad and Tobago. This has been previously indicated by the Government; accordingly, this untruth by the Express editorial is refuted and the intended mischief is rebuked.
These attempts to mislead the population and readership of the Express is indeed unfortunate and wholly uncalled for.