(Trinidad Guardian) Venezuela’s Navy yesterday broke up three human trafficking camps on the country’s Orinoco Delta and rescued 79 people, including 25 minors, whom they said were being trafficked to criminal gangs in T&T.
The Orinoco Delta, which covers all of Delta Amacuro State and parts of Monagas State and Sucre State in eastern Venezuela, has for decades been a centre of illegal human and drug trafficking.
Yesterday’s raid comes amid reports of a major human trafficking network operating between T&T and Venezuela.
A 2019 Trafficking In Persons Report (TIP) Report designated T&T as a tier 2 country and said traffickers operating here “are increasingly targeting vulnerable foreign young women and girls between the ages of 15 and 21.”
However, woman and girls from other parts of the country are regularly transported to Güiria, a port city located a short boat ride away from Trinidad’s north-west coast, which has been identified as the main operating base for human traffickers, a National Assembly report said.
