From WN

At least four people drowned while dozens remain missing after a boat carrying migrants from Venezuela crashed while on its way to the Caribbean island of Curacao on Wednesday, according to The Guardian.

Local police told Curacao News that they had recovered the bodies of two men and two women, but were still searching “to see if there are more.”

There were around 30 people on board sailing from La Vela de Coro in Venezuela’s Falcon state en route to the island of Aruba.

Luis Stefanelli, an opposition deputy in northeastern Falcon, said the boat had “about 30 people, all of them under 35 years, some minors,” and that each had paid around $100 in order to be taken to the nearby island of Aruba.

“It is impossible to determine how many” had perished, he said, because those who made it ashore “hid themselves because they were fearful of their situation as illegal immigrants.”

Curacao police said they arrested two men that were thought to be migrants in the area close to where the bodies were found on the shore.

“People who leave Venezuela know that there are many risks, many boats are not suitable and there is a strong possibility they will be arrested,” the spokesman said.
The incident occurred during escalated tensions between Caracas and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire, after President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure of all air and sea traffic to the islands over claims of alleged smuggling.

Maduro ended all air and sea travel after claiming “mafias” were smuggling Venezuelan goods out of the country.

Social scientist Tomas Paez said that he estimated up to 500,000 Venezuelans have left the country over the last two years amid a worsening economic crisis due to the tanking prices of oil combined with spiraling inflation that’s caused food and medicine shortages around the South American country that has struggled to recover from widespread corruption.

Citizens of Venezuela would often travel to Curacao in order to work or obtain staple products that are now a rarity to find in Venezuelan markets after the economic system collapsed.

Reginald Huggins of the Curacao police said that the four people were “found on the beach this morning,” and that “this was not a crime, they were not murdered.”

Reuters spoke to a family member of one of the passengers on board who survived who said that the boat fell apart several miles before reaching Curacao.

Curacao’s government criticized Maduro’s travel ban, issuing a statement that said the “unilateral closure of the border with Venezuela does not fit with the search for better relations with our neighbor.”

Venezuela’s high subsidies for consumer goods, especially fuel, has made an appealing contraband purchase for a number of neighboring nations, with Maduro pointing to the crime as being behind the product shortages across the OPEC country.

However, critics of the Maduro administration say that the country’s state-led economic model is behind the rampant shortages which have led to widespread hunger and 75% of Venezuelans losing an average of 19 pounds in weight since they are unable to eat more than two meals per day.

-WN.com, Maureen Foody

For more on this story and video go to: https://article.wn.com/view/2018/01/12/Venezuelan_Migrant_Boat_Crashes_En_Route_To_Curacao_Four_Dea/