WILLEMSTAD - A group of ten Venezuelans without residence permits wants to leave Curaçao. They have asked the authorities to be deported. They have been behind bars for two months in what they describe as very bad and inhumane conditions.

On Sunday, the ten went on a hunger strike to force eviction, but Curaçao is currently unable to chart aircraft.

HUMAN RIGHTS CARIBBEAN

Now that there is no prospect of expulsion, the ten must be released, according to Ieteke Witteveen of human rights organization Human Rights Caribbean.

"Curaçao legislation states that alien detention is not the result of an offense but is aimed at deportation from Curaçao as quickly as possible," says Witteveen.

“Specifically, the law also states that without prospect of expulsion, aliens must be sent. That is the case with these Venezuelans. "

UNCLEAR

An estimated 15,000 Venezuelans were staying in Curaçao at the end of last year. They are fleeing their country en masse. In Venezuela, a humanitarian and economic crisis has been struggling for years.

The situation with regard to evictions of Venezuelans in Curaçao is unclear. The border between Venezuela and Curaçao is closed. Yet recently they succeeded in sending Venezuelans back.

The immigration service has received assistance from the Venezuelan consulate in Willemstad.

NO VALID DOCUMENTS

The group of ten has no, or invalid, travel documents. They also initially refused to cooperate. Now the group is fed up. According to the Venezuelans, the situation in their own country is better than in the prison on Curaçao.

“They see fellow countrymen coming and going but are treated like criminals. One of them is even placed among real criminals as a threat to the rest of the group," says Witteveen.

"Nonsense," says prison warden Urny Florán. "The foreigners are held in the barracks inside the prison gates, but outside the walls where criminals serve their sentences."

According to the warden, the ten have only threatened with a hunger strike. "Nothing more. But it is a fact that there have been no evictions for two weeks now, because there is no plane to take them back."