By Chantalé Fletcher
AN investigation is ongoing into the death of a nine-month-old baby on a migrant boat during a shootout on the high seas on Saturday night.
This according to Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds in an answer to an Urgent Question by Opposition Senator Wade Mark in the Senate on Tuesday.
Mark asked Hinds whether an investigation had been launched into the circumstances of the death of a nine-month baby on board a vessel off the waters of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard stated that its vessel TTF Scarborough intercepted a migrant boat that made an attempt to ram the vessel.
Hinds expressed condolences to the parents of the child and to the Government and people of Venezuela.
He said, “As it has since been determined that all the occupants that approached T&T without authority or notice to the State were Venezuelans.”
When Mark asked about the number of Venezuelans who were on the pirogue and whether Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was in contact with the President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro on this type of traffic.
However, President of the Senate Christine Kangaloo disallowed the question.
The TTCG in a statement stated, “All available methods were used including the use of the loud hailer, ship’s horn, searchlight and flares, to try to get the suspect vessel to stop, however, the vessel continued to attempt to evade TTS Scarborough. In keeping with standard protocols, warning shots ahead of the vessel were next employed.”
However, the warning shots were ignored, the TTCG stated.
The mother was wounded and her nine-month-old baby died from a gunshot wound.
Maduro has since called for an investigation into the death of the baby boy.
A statement from the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “The Venezuelan Government extends its most sincere condolences to the infant’s relatives, while urging the Trinidad and Tobago authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation to clarify the facts surrounding this fatal incident…”
It stated that President Maduro has ordered all diplomatic mechanisms to establish “the necessary binational protocols to consolidate the cross-border security dynamics that preserve good understanding” between the countries.
