Barbadians in Venezuela are not in danger even though there is an air of concern amid tension between the country and United States that has been rising for months.
Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Barbados in Venezuela, Commander Aquinas Clarke, said people, including the Barbadians living or visiting there, were going about their normal business.
“We are hoping that whatever is going on can be solved by diplomatic means and that we preserve the peace in the region. So everyday is just basically holding on to see what is happening.
“But from this side, I can say to you that things are relatively calm, despite what is going on,” Clarke said.
The friction between the United States and Venezuela started months ago with a US naval build-up in the southern Caribbean and nearby waters, which US officials insisted was to address threats from Latin American drug cartels.
There have been several fatal bombing of fishing vessels which the US said were smuggling narcotics but that has been disputed by Venezuela.
At the United Nations 80th General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley warned that the situation between the United States and Venezuela could put the southern Caribbean at risk, even as a result of an accident, adding the region could not be seen as collateral damage from a build-up in military assets by both sides.
Clarke said: “We are in contact with them and everybody is safe. So we don’t have any challenges on that end at this point in time. It is a safe destination to be in. I have been from the terraces and heights to what we call the ghettos, walking without any problems.
“Every Barbadian that has come here so far has left with a completely different impression,” he told the Sunday Sun during a recent telephone interview.
The Barbadian diaspora comprises several first-generation Barbadians living there for 50 years and 70 years and their families.
There are more than 100 Barbadians in the country and regular consular business includes facilitating the applications for passports and, more recently, citizenship.
This year the embassy has handled seven new Barbadian citizenships – six by descent and one by registration through marriage.
“There are Barbadians here, descendants, who are very interested in achieving citizenship,” the envoy said.
There was one instance, Clarke said, of a man whose father was born in the 1900s and the man, having lived in Venezuela since 1957, has sent in his information in order to become a citizen.
One of the oldest members of the Barbadian community in Venezuela is a 99-year-old woman who has been living there for more than 70 years. There is a planned visit for her during the Christmas season and another celebration for her 100th birthday in July next year, he said. ( AC)
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