By Melquiades Avila.
The number of native Warao family groups leaving Venezuela towards Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana is increasing according to local NGOs’ reports. Some 114 Warao family groups have left the country in late 2019 and early 2020, state legislator Alexis Valenzuela said.
Over the last six months of 2019, ten Warao communities in Delta Amacuro state were abandoned, activists told El Pitazo. In the Antonio Diaz municipality, Warao first leaves towards Delta Amacuro state capital Tucupita, and from there they travel abroad according to Kape Kape, an organization that fights for the rights of native Venezuelans. This is the first report of Warao are leaving, to join some 5.5 million Venezuelans who have already left the country.
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“There is hunger, there is no food in the communities. We have fish but no bread,” Warao Aidamo chieftain, Roger Moya said. Lack of drinking water, the return of diseases thought have been eradicated, among other causes are the reasons why they’re leaving.
A recent report by the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration agency confirms that Warao tribes dislocating to Brazil, Guyana, and Trinidad & Tobago or at least positioning themselves near those countries’ borders waiting to cross.
Also, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet reported an increase in Pemon and Warao families leaving Venezuela.
