Adiós amigos.

Close 700 Venezuelan nationals who sought refuge in Trinidad and Tobago to escape the economic and political turmoil in their homeland left this country on a chartered vessel on Saturday to head back home.

Most of the passengers were sick, unemployed, single mothers, pregnant women and children.

Some of the adults had taken advantage of the registration exercise in mid-2019 offered by the Government which allowed 16,523 foreigners to live and work in this country.

But the forced closure of restaurants, bars, and other businesses to combat the spread of covid19 by the Government left hundreds of Venezuelan nationals jobless, hungry and some even evicted from their rented apartments and longed to return home.

Even though our borders were closed to the refugees after the registration exercise many Venezuelans still made it ashore over the last two years arriving in pirogues on deserted beaches across the country's porous borders.

Those arrested were fined, imprisoned and others promptly deported. At the close of the registration exercise, the government instituted a visa requirement for Venezuelans seeking to come to TT.

[caption id="attachment_901755" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Police officers tried to keep order and health protocols among Venezuelans waiting to board a ferry to take back them home at Cruise Ship Complex compound in Port of Spain. - Photo by Sureash Cholai[/caption]

The vast majority of the passengers said they had to return home owing to various difficulties they endured in TT.

Passenger Jorge Arellan said he was leaving behind his 18-month-old child to seek medical attention in Venezuela.

Venezuelan nationals are limited in the type of treatment they can receive at public health institutions.

"I worked while I was healthy, then I started to get sick from a facial attack and between the sun and the worries of not being able to work I was forced to go home to my family," he said.

Arellan and four of his relative returned to Venezuela.

Another passenger, Alfredo Marín, said he decided to leave owing to lack of employment during the pandemic and could not pay his rent.

[caption id="attachment_901757" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Venezuelan Ambassador to TT Carlos Perez, left, Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dr Amery Browne and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds were on hand to oversee the hundreds of repatriation mission on Saturday. - Photo by Sureash Cholai[/caption]

"In Venezuela the economic and social situation is very difficult, but I will not pay rent and that is a relief," he said.

Mariannis Gómez returned to Venezuela with her three children, ages 5, 8 and 9, as they were unable to get an education in TT.

"We have been in Trinidad for two years and my children only learned a few words in English thanks to Trinidadian neighbours, but not having the opportunity to study in schools here forces us to return home for their education."

Many of those who left had the same concern: How they will find their country after leavi