Relatives anxiously awaiting word on Venezuelan men

Relatives of seven Venezuelan men who have gone missing are said to be desperate to find out if their loved ones are among the three foreign men killed last Sunday evening in a shoot out off the coast of Union Island.{{more}}

Since Tuesday, SEARCHLIGHT has been bombarded by requests from persons who say they are in some way connected with seven men who were onboard the vessel “El Amigo Fay”, which was flying a Venezuelan flag, and is presently in the custody of the coastguard.

One of the men on board the boat is presently a patient at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, while five others have been taken into custody.

One person who emailed said that the men on the boat are fishermen and while they are sorry to hear about the death of customs guard Othneil Whyte, the family of the men in Venezuela are “horribly stressed not to know, not to understand how could it happen and not to have any call from nobody there… yet.”

They are seeking confirmation as to which of the men were killed, who is hospitalized and which ones have been taken into custody.

The names of the seven Venezuelans have been given as Natividad, Deivys, Delvis, Humberto, Darwin, David and Deigrys.

Another person who contacted us by Facebook said three of the seven men are in poor health. According to the source, 55-year-old Humberto is epileptic and needs daily medication, Deivys has problems speaking and 31-year-old David is suffering from glaucoma.

That person, who claims to be a lawyer, told SEARCHLIGHT that the person who opened fire on local public servants was a Colombian, not a Venezuelan. He also asserted that the Venezuelans are poor fishermen, not drug traffickers as might be assumed. He said Humberto was deceived into going on the trip by being told he would be doing “fishing chores”.

One person who contacted us asked for “human understanding” and that we think of the mothers, wives and children of the missing men.

In a release issued yesterday, the Venezuelan Embassy said it is cooperating fully with local authorities in the investigations into the matter, so that when full identification of those arrested, injured and dead is received, the relevant authorities and families in Venezuela could be informed. The release said a visit was made to the injured person in hospital as well as to the captain of the boat and the four persons who have been detained.

“As for the bodies, we are awaiting authorization from the authorities to collect fingerprint information to besent to the national territory in order to confirm the full identification of these persons,” the release from the Embassy said.

A release issued by Commissioner of Police Keith Miller on Wednesday said post mortem examinations are to be conducted on the bodies of the three dead men to determine the causes of death.

On Sunday evening around 6:00 p.m., after observing suspicious activity, Customs Guard Othneil Whyte and an officer of the Rapid Response Unit boarded the vessel, “El Amigo Fay” which was anchored some distance from the Clifton dock at Union Island.

Information reaching SEARCHLIGHT is that Whyte pointed out a suspicious package on the boat to the policeman, at which point one of the men on the vessel, who was armed with a weapon, opened fire on the public servants, while the vessel proceeded to head out to sea.

At this point, the police officer returned fire, striking the gunman, and opened fire on other men who had attacked him. At some point during the fire fight, the package was said to have been thrown overboard.

When the gun smoke cleared, three of the nine foreigners were dead and one was injured. Whyte, a customs guard for two decades, was unaccounted for. He was found floating in the sea a few hours after, and declared dead at the Union Island Health Centre.

An undisclosed quantity of what is believed to be cocaine was discovered on the sea floor late the following afternoon by divers from the coast guard and the Tobago Cays Marine Park. The suspicious package was discovered in the area where the alleged shoot-out between local police and men on the boat took place.