Yusmil Alejandra Larez

Pietro Pollizzi

October 16, 2018

Masima Noel

January 1, 2019

November 29, 2018

As a Trinbagonian I can’t help but be concerned about the large influx of Venezuelans entering our country because of the continued deteriorating economic, social and political circumstances in Venezuela.

I encounter Venezuelans everywhere in Trinidad and I had a keen interest in how they lived. I wanted to spend a day in the life of a refugee, see the conditions under which they live, discover the circumstances of their lives in Venezuela and how they ended up in Trinidad. I approached the Living Water Community, a Catholic-based organization, which acts as the implementing partner of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR and I was given contact information for refugee Yusmil Alejandra Larez. Alejandra was very pleasant and agreed to allow me to enter into her small space to speak about her experience in Trinidad as a refugee.

I arrived at Alejandra’s apartment just around 6:40 am on the appointed day. She was already busy in the kitchen washing dishes after which she prepared a bottle of formula for her 9 month old son Hector who was born in Trinidad. She warmly welcomed my daughter LeAndra and I into her 12×12 space which functioned as a compact all-in-one kitchen, living room and dining room. A single window in the cramped space provided very little light because of a huge wall which blocked out the sunlight.

Alejandra and her husband, Hector Astudilloandtheir two children share a single bedroom. The couple and their 10 year old daughter Victoria have been living in Trinidad as refugees since July 2016. Alejandra first came to Trinidad in 1999 until 2000 to study English and every year after visited for the carnival. I loved Trinidad so much, to me this was paradise, she said.

“We left Venezuela with our whole life in three suitcases,” she said emotionally. “We ran here because we had friends here and we knew the country, but it’s totally different to being a tourist. As a tourist, you have money to spend and you plan where to go but being a refugee is different. There is a difference between a refugee and an immigrant. An immigrant has time to plan but as a refugee, you have to escape and they think you are here to take advantage of what they have,” she said. Both Alejandra and her husband have bachelor degrees in Education and were teachers in Venezuela.

Trinidad does not have a refugee policy, she said. “They signed the Convention of 1951 of the UN and they agreed to receive refugees in their territory, but they never rectified it and they never developed a law for that. They do have a law for immigration but it does not apply to refugees, we have no rights.”

Alejandra elaborated:

“Although we can stay, we are not allowed to work nor are we allowed to study. So refugees only have right to stay in Trinidad but no right to work study, or access health service. Children cannot attend public schools but they can attendprivate schools but not registered at Ministry of Education because they are not entitled of student permit. Only children with student permits (but) you have to be regular resident of a work permit. We have no legal status. My daughter was not allowed to sit SEA this year.

“We have refugees from many countries here, such as Pakistan, Syria, Africa, St Lucia, Jamaica, so its not just Venezuelans, its a matter of refugees, so we are now united together at @refugeestt on Instagram and Twitter. We didn’t choose to be like this, we were forced to be like this, so we cannot go back, and losing our status is wow, but at the same time you are not supposed to commit offences in this country and UNHCR and Living Waters (are)telling you to go and work. We have no right to work but we work illegally, if we are caught we may lose our refugees status. We don’t get the kind of financial support we need to survive. So they were supposed to be protecting you and they’re sending you to the wolves.”

Alejandra further added:

“They should support us because when you ask for Refugee status UNHCR is in charge of supporting you financially until you can support on your own. That is why if you get a refugee status, this country was supposed to

be transitory until you are supposed to be resettled to a third country which give you the rights you deserve.”

“According to the refugee international status declaration, a refugee should be a person who is forced to escape to this country and then establish a life in a new culture. So, if you can ‘t work, what will happen to me in ten years, in 40 years, so I will end up as a vagrant? The little bit I work for is to eat. I can’t save money. I can’t do my nails or buy a pair of shoes. I prefer to buy food or fruit for them. My husband and I sacrifice eating sometimes so that the children can eat. Why don’t UNHCR give us the opportunity to go to a third country, because this country is not for us, she said. Without policy we can’t be here, we praying to leave, we just want to go, we don’t want to be here anymore, we just don’t want to.

“Living Waters used to give support, every month. They used to give us $500, sometimes more sometimes less, but they cut it out, some food and they cut it out, so everything is being cut. I will be three years waiting and I am not an asylum seeker, I’m a refugee. I was supposed to be enjoying my life and building back my life, ok, and every day is what we have, what we gonna have, instead I’m here.

“When you claim asylum anywhere in the world you are supposed to be protected by the host country, they can’t send you back. They can detain you until your process is determined, so you have the right to enjoy your process of asylum seeker until UNHCR say yes, no in freedom. You are not supposed to be imposed imprisonment. And when you are a refugee you can enter a country, even illegal with no documents, so it’s not a must that you have to have a passport and come in the airport.

“You can come illegal with no passport, pass through, go to Living Waters and say I need protection. I need to claim asylum and you cannot be punished because of that. You know what, more than a hundred asylum seekers and refugees are detained in IBC, (Immigration Detention Centre). And on top of that you know what they doing, police catch you, they just tear up the asylum seekers certificateand carry them and you know what, they charging them and they say they have to pay a penalty. This is harassment and this is illegal. They are violating human rights, they violating children rights which are above of everything. Education is a universal right, you can’t deny it, especially children.

Venezuela is a gang country, they’re bandits, they are drug leaders, they are drug traffickers, they are people who kill their own people. In Venezuela the government is like that. They kill their own people because if you are in power you should be protecting your own people and they are letting people to die from hunger, while you just taking all the country’s money. “Sorry to say, I not suppose to be giving comment in politics because this is not my country, but that politics inside me have to speak out.

Alejandra spent the day looking after her children and preparing simple but delicious meals. She invited my daughter LeAndra and I to share in their food. We felt bad accepting because we felt we were depriving her family. She said,“not at all, in Venezuela we give food to our guest and it would be disrespectful of us to refuse the meals. My house is your house. Back home I had someone who did the cooking and cleaning, here I have to do everything myself.”

During the day, I saw many emotions; there were moments of joy and moments of sadness. I saw her cry several times during the day and it helped me to understand how devastating it can be living as a refugee in our country. She also received many phone calls from other refugees showing their support and encouragement to each other.

Later in the evening, Alejandra went to volunteer at a church where she teaches other refugees to speak English. I saw the joy on her face as she taught the two hour class along with Trinidadian Kerron Weekes. After teaching she headed back home with her daughter, Victoria.

Edited by Linda Hutchison Jafar
Video edited by Vern Teekasingh
Graphic Designer Brent Yorke

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO POLICY ON REFUGEE

Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GORTT) acceded to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol in 2000, and is also signatory to the United Nations (UN) Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and supplementing conventions, and the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their families. While the government has made great strides in enacting legislation and implementing measures to combat trafficking in persons, the country does not at this time have refugee legislation; this has hindered the application of proper protection principles for refugees an asylum seekers. (Taken from a statement by the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to the 67th Session of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR)

I now have a better understanding of what life is like for refugees here in Trinidad and Tobago. I now share with you my day in the life of Venezuelan refugee Yusmil Alejandra Larez.

How does it feel living in a country where your plight as a refugee
is not truly understood?

Question for video provided by Alva Viarruel

01. Alejandra washes dishes in the kitchen of her apartment where she lives with her husband and two children.

02. Alejandra’s husband, Hector spends time with their son before leaving for work at 7:00a.m where he works until10: 00 pm. He works 7 days per week to ensure that his family is fed.

03. Hector caresses and kisses his son before heading out to work.out to work.

04. Alejandra watches a cartoon with her Trinidad-born son

05. Alejandra visits a shop to pick up breakfast and lunch items

06. Alejandra kneads flour for bakes for breakfast.

07. Alejandra in an animated conversation with a fellow Cuban refugee.

08. She checks on the bakes which are now ready for eating.

09. Hot bakes with cheese and butter were absolutely delicious.

10. Alejandra gets emotional while talking about her feelings as a refugee.

11. She checks on Victoria and Hector who are sleeping.

12. Her daughter Victoria plays with her brother Hector after their nap. Victoria was ill that day and did not go to school.

13. Alejandra feeds Hector.

14. Baby Hector thoroughly enjoys his bath.

15. Victoria watches TV.

16. Lunch of spaghetti and mince meat was sumptuous.

17. Alejandra makes a blend with papaw and orange juice. This was really tasty.

18. Alejandra applies some light make up which she borrows from Victoria before going off to teach English to other refugees.

19. Victoria’s make up which she keeps in a shoe box.

20. Alejandra talks with another refugee who arrived early for the English class while Victoria listens attentively.

21. Victoria distributes notebooks to other refugees who attended the class.

22. Trinidadian Kerron Weekes, right, also teaches the class with Alejandra.

23. Teaching English to the refugees.

24. The words, ‘I am from Venezuela’ is written on the board, but there were refugees from other countries at the class including the Dominican Republic.

25. Teaching the refugees how to sound letters in English.

26. The last lesson before she ends the class.