Source: The Guardian: Several men were captured by the Venezuelan military during a crackdown on a human trafficking ring in May 2020

Report by:

Dr. Justine Pierre (Labour Market and Migration Researcher)

Assisted by Ms. Nayrobis Rodríguez. Data verification and credits go to the National Assembly of Venezuela and the Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Group (FAES) of the National Bolivarian Guard, Venezuela.

The Caribbean is regarded as a premier tourist destination with high-quality customer service, pristine beaches, beautiful sunsets and relatively safe environments. This is a tremendous positive about the Caribbean region. Still, there is a cloud to the silver lining of the success of the tourism industry, and that is the vulnerability of persons of low socioeconomic status, which puts them at risk of becoming victims of human trafficking.

Research

Data has shown that between 80,000 and 120,000 persons are trafficked or smuggled through the Caribbean annually. Our research has found that most of these persons are from the Caribbean. However, a growing number of extra-regional migrants from Africa and Asia, including countries such as India, China, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar. Those countries use this region as a destination pathway to the USA, Canada and Chile.

The recent political, economic, and humanitarian embargos and crises in Venezuela have also caused an upsurge in this phenomenon of smuggling persons through the Caribbean. If this situation continues, it will most likely affect the national security and the displacement of many citizens in countries within the region, especially given the financial fallout caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Challenges to Combatting Human Trafficking

There are many challenges identified in the war against human trafficking. The following represent just a few:

1) the lack of resources in the Caribbean to combat human trafficking is a growing concern and a problem that no country can adequately solve single-handedly;

2) low perception and awareness of human trafficking in the region (people do not believe that it is happening in their country);

3) poor information and data-gathering apparatus in the region;

4) wide gaps in immigration and border control for ease of forced migration;

5) socio-economic disparities that create vulnerabilities in too many communities;

6) lack of adequate intelligence on the organised criminal network;

7) international drugs/money laundering/prostitution/trafficking with viable demand-and-supply forces;

8) high demand for sex and prostitution services among the local population;

9) ease of regional and international travel, which facilitates the movement of traffickers within the region;

10) lack of an established profiling system (who is a human trafficker);

11) lack of regulation in the commercial sex trade, which creates an unregulated sex industry;

12) low conviction rate of human traffickers in the region;

13) victims are not willing to testify against their alleged trafficker;

14) porous, unsecured borders in the region;

15) successful marketing of ‘hope’ for a better life to some of these victims;

16) inadequate police training and education on the subject in the region; and

17) complicit and corrupt public officials, including police officers, immigration officers and other government officials.

Report on Human Trafficking in the Caribbean

Our recent report on Human Trafficking in the CARIFORUM region (2019) revealed that only a few countries, such as Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana and The Bahamas, and, to a lesser extent, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago, have made dedicated efforts to control the problem of human trafficking. In contrast, other countries within the region do not have adequate resources to monitor this situation properly. However, it would appear that the US Annual TIP Report https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/ seems to be the most excellent motivator for countries to improve their response to this problem, as a country that receives a US Tier 2 ranking may have consequences on how that country is viewed and rated for international assistance by donor countries.

US State Department guide to understanding the TIERS System:

Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.

Tier 2: Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

Tier 2 Watch List: Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, and for which:

a) the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is incredibly significant or is significantly increasing.

b) there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year, including increased investigations, prosecution, and convictions of trafficking crimes, increased assistance to victims, and decreasing evidence of complicity in severe forms of trafficking by government officials; or

c) the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional steps over the next year.

Tier 3: Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

Source (US State Department 2019 TIP report)

Our research further revealed that the epicentres of human trafficking in the region are Venezuela, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago and Nicaragua. However, Venezuela has the dubious distinction out of this grouping as being the most significant supplier of trafficking victims to Trinidad & Tobago, the USA and Canada.

By its deteriorating and vulnerable political and economic situation, Venezuela is seen by traffickers as their premier source of victims for Trinidad & Tobago. Interviews conducted with traffickers revealed that the local population in Trinidad seemed to prefer women from Venezuela who were younger and had lighter complexion, as these women attracted a higher premium and financial return. Our research showed that many women are sold as sex slaves to criminal elements in Trinidad & Tobago due to the high demand and then to criminal elements in other countries.

Human Trafficking on the Rise in Venezuela

Table showing the population of the Delta Amacuro region and the estimated number of trafficking victims

During an interview, the Deputy of the National Assembly, Robert Alcalá, spoke of the increase in crimes related to human trafficking in the west of Venezuela, specifically in the states of Sucre and Delta Amacuro. The Deputy warned that there is a collaboration between military officials and organized-crime gangs to kidnap Venezuelans and sell them to Trinidad & Tobago. He stated, ‘in addition to what frequently happens in Tucupita, in Delta Amacuro, this is also happening in impoverished small towns in the Sucre state.’

The Deputy warned that in Eastern Venezuela, the coastal towns of Güiria and Irapa, close to Trinidad & Tobago, are places that are frequently used clandestinely for human trafficking.

Between April and May 2019, sixty-seven people disappeared between the waters of Güiria and Trinidad & Tobago. It is alleged that two small boats transporting men, women, adolescents, and children sank at sea, but so far, there have been no formal investigations by the Venezuelan police authorities.

Three Dangerous Towns Identified in Venezuela

Deputies of the National Assembly have announced that there are three small towns in the eastern part of Venezuela where human trafficking to Trinidad occurs most frequently.

Tucupita is the capital of the state of Delta Amacuro. It is a populated town whose economy, for some 50 years, was booming due to oil exploitation and is currently the headquarters of administrative offices for oil refineries and fields. This town has a high rate of indigenous inhabitants and is located on the banks of the Mánamo River, which flows into the Atlantic Sea.

Güiria is the capital of the Valdez Municipality in the western state of Sucre. It is part of an area known as the Gulf of Paria and is a centre of gas exploitation. Currently, it has become a hazardous area in the Sucre state due to the increase in criminal gangs that traffic weapons, drugs, food, people and exotic animals due to its proximity to the coasts of Trinidad & Tobago.

Irapa is a town near Güiria, and its coasts are also a port of departure for Trinidad & Tobago. This town is the capital of the Mariño Municipality in the Sucre state and is home to about 9,500 people. In Irapa, there is a strong influence on the culture of Trinidad, especially in its architecture and gastronomy. There is also a boom in drug, food and people smuggling to Trinidad & Tobago.

Destination: Caribbean — Porous Borders

Source: Map of Caribbean Islands, by Baburek (January 5, 2009).

One distinctive feature of all the states within the CARIFORUM region is that these are islands surrounded by water, which means their borders are porous. There are vast areas within these borders that are not adequately patrolled by law enforcement. This is perhaps because the border-securities framework of most countries is understaffed and under-resourced. The conveyance and transportation of trafficked victims usually take place by plane, both official and unofficial; by boats of varying sizes; and by truck/car and even on foot. It all depends on the circumstances of the particular case, including the topography of the specific country.

Facilitators of Human Trafficking: The Corruption of Law Enforcement Officials

Our research has shown that the success and the facilitation of human trafficking within the CARIFORUM region, as previously described, is further underscored by the corruption of state officials and law-enforcement officers, as well as the naiveté, negligence and carelessness, and the perceived need to participate in this marketing of ‘hope’ for a better life by the caregivers of the potential trafficking victims.

From our research, the issue of corruption has emerged as a significant factor in the facilitation of human trafficking, through direct and indirect means, after tracing the route of the trafficking process between Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago.

Effects of Corruption of Law Enforcement in the Facilitation of Human Trafficking in Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago

During my team’s research for the CARICOM Human Trafficking Study (2019), we contacted Anti-Human Trafficking organisations in over 32 countries, thereby creating a formidable database that enabled us to make contact with traffickers, smugglers, victims, law enforcement officers and other social actors affiliated with ‘the industry.’

Our investigations led us to a small town called Tucupita, the capital of the Delta Amacuro region in western Venezuela, where human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing crimes.

Interviews were conducted with one trafficker (to be referred to as Trafficker Y) in Venezuela, who alleged that a police officer from Trinidad & Tobago (who will be referred to as Constable X) was a member of an organised crime network in Venezuela with strong links in Trinidad & Tobago. Trafficker Y’s gang specialised in capturing citizens in Venezuela and transporting them to Trinidad and other countries for forced labour and to work as prostitutes. Trafficker Y further indicated that Constable X had paid them to procure women and young girls for his organisation; the means could include hunting them, luring them with false promises of a better life, making false representations to their parents and caregivers, and kidnapping. When Constable X was interviewed about the allegations made by Trafficker Y, Constable X denied that he was ever a member of any human-trafficking gang. When further asked why a known trafficker would have his phone number, Constable X stated that he did not know why and that having someone’s phone number in one’s possession does not constitute a crime. However, Constable X was unaware that Trafficker Y had shown us a series of correspondence (between both of them) related to human-trafficking activities between Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago.

A Deputy of the National Assembly of Venezuela, in commenting on this trafficking organisation, stated: ‘It is a network that uses the same strategy, offering false jobs and the possibility of earning money to people living in extreme poverty, and then clandestinely taking them out of the country and selling them to other criminal gangs.’

To continue the narrative, our research revealed that some of the gangs in the Tucupita region comprise — and are headed and operated by — law-enforcement officers, including some from Trinidad & Tobago. One alleged trafficker indicated that, through his connection with elements in the Trinidad & Tobago Police Force, he had been assured of protection by some police officers who advised were to enter the country. Those officers also provide patrol and security for the safe-houses where the women are kept before being distributed across Trinidad & Tobago in trucks, cars, maxi-taxis, and vans.

Through the Lens of a Prosecutor: The Analysis

An analysis of this brief fact pattern, through the lens of a prosecuting attorney, would reveal possible material to substantiate criminal charges.

Human trafficking is regarded as a ‘money-making’ venture. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that all involved, especially a corrupt law-enforcement official, maybe participating in making money. The prosecutor may find that these officers would be liable for ‘Being Part of a Criminal Organisation,’ based on their designated role of providing protection and informing traffickers of the vulnerable parts of the border to ensure entry.

A prosecuting attorney, given this evidentiary material surrounding the alleged corrupt conduct of Constable X, would consider as a possible outcome the following offences:

i. Perverting the Course of Justice

ii. Corruptly Soliciting Money/Corrupting Accepting Money or Gifts

iii. Bribery

iv. Aiding and Abetting the offences under the Trafficking in Persons Act

v. Accessory Before/After the Fact

vi. Illicit Enrichment

vii. Bribery

viii. Conspiracy

ix. Money Laundering

x. Breaches of offences provided under Trafficking in person legislation modelled on the United Nations template, e.g. Trafficking in Persons

A prosecutor in Trinidad & Tobago would have to prove any of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, and the issues would have to be ventilated in a criminal court. Of course, a possible prosecution would have to come from detailed investigations that have gathered evidentiary material covering the ingredients of the particular offence.

At the very least, the police officer would be liable to administrative sanctions as severe as dismissal after going through the protocols in a departmental review of his conduct. (Here, the standard of proof is lower than the standard in a criminal matter.)

Rescue of Human-Trafficking Victims by Venezuelan Law Enforcement

Between January and June 2020, Venezuela’s military-intelligence agencies rescued 126 Venezuelan citizens who had been trafficked and travelling in small wooden boats to Trinidad & Tobago.

On January 31st, 2020, officials from the Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Group (FAES) of the National Bolivarian Guard (GNB for its Spanish acronym) rescued 37 people, including seven women, two men four teenagers, when they managed to intercept a small boat bound for Trinidad. The guards arrested two men and a woman who belonged to a criminal gang dedicated to human trafficking. This entire event took place at night. The seashore of the town of Tucupita has little or no surveillance by police during these night hours, a fact that is known and exploited by human traffickers and provides good cover for the transportation of victims by boat.

Two months later, in the middle of March 2020, the FAES rescued 12 more women and a teenager in Tucupita; they were en route to be sold as sex slaves in Trinidad.

Discussion between researchers and military agents revealed that the organized-crime gang was led by a man nicknamed ‘El Monky,’ who, at the time of his arrest, was found in possession of the telephone number of a police officer. At that time, Venezuelan law enforcement also arrested four men and women known members/associates of the same criminal human-trafficking network.

On June 9, 2020, our sources revealed that one of the largest rescues occurred when law-enforcement officers and the Venezuelan military intercepted and managed to prevent the trafficking of 97 people from Tucupita. The latter were bound for Trinidad & Tobago. Deputy Carlos Valero reported that amongst the group of victims were 47 teenagers.

In Tucupita, the National Guard arrested 39 members and dismantled three organized-crime camps dedicated to human trafficking, recruiting and kidnapping Venezuelans to steal them to Trinidad & Tobago and Canada.

This year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Venezuela National Guard rescued over 126 persons, less than 5% of all people trafficked from this part of Venezuela this year.

One trafficker in Venezuela commented that ‘it’s a loss of business for my organisation because it is costly for us to pay scouts and spotters to transport and house these women — only for them to be rescued by the National Guard.’

Conclusion

In referring to Tucupita and Trinidad & Tobago, it is pretty clear from the examples outlined that ‘corruption facilitates the illegal economy just as transparency and the rule of law enable legal markets,’ as was stated by Tremblay (2010). Having interviewed both victims and perpetrators and derived from his experience as a researcher in the region, the author’s considered the opinion that corruption is the bone marrow running through the skeletal frame that supports the crime of human trafficking.

Based on his interviews, approximately 50 per cent (49.3%) of the traffickers and smugglers stated that they received assistance from a law-enforcement officer to conduct human-trafficking activities in the Caribbean region. Therefore, corruption of law-enforcement entities and other governance structures provides the grease for the wheels of what traffickers call ‘the industry.’

Analysing any scenario involving human trafficking juxtaposed with corruption manifests the four main pillars identified by UNODC (2010). For emphasis, they are outlined as follows:

i. Firstly, it allows the crime to be invisible:

That is, it is hidden in plain sight from the beginning to the end of the process, where its ultimate aim is achieved.

ii. Secondly, it facilitates the impunity once a case of trafficking in persons is detected:

In other words, it ensures that where the scourge of human trafficking is concerned, the trafficker will escape sanction, as those who should sound the first alarm are overcome by the corruption of consciousness or moral turpitude, which can be attributed to some family members of the victims or their community, as well as corrupt public officials.

iii. Thirdly, it facilitates the execution of the crime:

This goes without saying because if law-enforcement officials are aware of the actors in this scenario and they neither hear anything nor see anything in the space of the commission of the crime of human trafficking, then it ensures the successful execution of the crime; and

iv. Fourthly, it assures the re-victimization of the trafficked victim:

This would occur as a natural consequence of the crime having been successfully executed and hidden in plain sight. The result, in some cases, is re-victimization or unwillingness of the victim to be rescued; or, in most circumstances, the victim refuses to identify the perpetrators. The capture of the victim’s state of mind — along the lines of Stockholm Syndrome — is the ultimate re-victimization. This would prevent the victim from accepting the offer of being rescued, so they will remain in the trafficked situation to become a statistic repeatedly.

Finally, what is quite clear is that the fight to prevent and minimise human trafficking and rescue those who have been trafficked must be an ongoing and well-resourced effort at every level — including policy, financial, sensitisation and education, both locally at the lowest community level and the intra-regional and international levels. National government budgets must have dedicated economic, and governance frameworks to effectively craft policy and work with international donors to move the needle in the right direction and maintain it for the long haul. Our combined public interest regionally should have it no other way.

It behoves all of us to remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: ‘The time is always right to do what is right.’

Information about the Author:

Dr. Justine Pierre is the Director of Research and Business Development of Dunn Pierre Barnett and Company Canada Limited. https://dpbglobal.com/ is a Labour Market, Migration and Human Trafficking researcher. He was the team leader on the recently concluded CARIFORUM/CARICOM Human Trafficking research project, which took place in the countries of the Caribbean in 2019. https://today.caricom.org/2019/07/29/cariforum-embarks-on-critical-human-trafficking-study/