Monitoring Venezuelan migrants to be digitised

─ equipment awaiting customs clearance

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Authorities will soon be more equipped to monitor Venezuelan migrants entering the country, as the government has secured a new system which will enable data to be shared efficiently at various ports of entry.

Speaking to the Department of Public Information (DPI), Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix disclosed that the piece of equipment is already in the country and is awaiting clearance from customs.

Over the last few months, Guyana has seen an influx of migrants crossing the borders to escape the social and economic crisis in the Spanish-speaking nation, as such, government had put systems in place to track and monitor them. Minister Felix noted that while they are awaiting the equipment, the database is still being maintained. He told DPI that once the equipment is put into service, there will be a lot of work to do.

“We are only capturing the details of persons, but the equipment we requested can process the information we have in addition to the biodata of persons,” he explained.  

According to Minister Felix, the equipment will include fingerprint and iris scanners capabilities. Once the information is processed in the system, it can be shared and accessed from different ports of entry. This, he noted, will result in the efficient monitoring of migrants entering the country.

With almost 6,000 migrants documented in Guyana, Minister Felix stated that the establishment of a Venezuelan migrant centre in Pomeroon-Supenaam Region (Region 2) is still engaging the attention of Cabinet. He noted that a tender is out for the rehabilitation of the building identified and once that is completed, works will commence.

Anara Khan.

Image: Kawise Wishart.