Andreina Briceño Ventura Brown is hard at work helping her Venezuelan countrymen to put their affairs in order for their re-registration as legal migrants in TT, which begins on Monday.
By Grevic Alvarado / Newsday
The 42-year-old has become an advocate for Venezuelans and other Spanish-speaking immigrants in the country.
“We provide advice because many Latinos do not know the reality of TT, the laws. One thing is to be regular with the registration cards and another to be outside the local laws, so there is general support,” Ventura Brown told WMN.
More than 16,000 Venezuelans registered in 2019 under a year-long amnesty allowing them to work in TT, after fleeing from the social, economic and political troubles in their homeland, seeking a better way of life.
The covid19 pandemic meant they could not return after that year, and the TT government has since approved their re-registration, which allows them to continue to work.
Ventura Brown, the founding director of the La Casita Hispanic Cultural Centre in Arima, believes the occasion presents a chance for more Venezuelans, who arrived after the first registration, to be granted amnesty by the TT authorities.
“In the 2019 registration, many Venezuelans could not participate and since that, many more have arrived who need to feel a little more secure. A new mechanism that helps TT help Venezuelans can be opened.”
Ventura Brown believes teamwork between locals and foreigners is essential, especially since their lives are similarly affected by the economic challenges brought on by the covid19 pandemic. Migrants can also contribute to the country, she said.
“We are here, we are fighting together and I believe that integration can be promoted. Immigrants deserve respect because we are human beings and from there, with the opportunities we receive, we can advance in the development of this beautiful country.”
She referred to the fact that Trinidadians now live in many countries, the result of migration as well.
Ventura Brown has been leading the way in sharing the Venezuelan way of life with locals, and learning about TT’s culture in exchange.
Born in Maracaibo in the Zulia state, Venezuela, she has Trinidadian roots. Her great-grandmother Lilian Holder left Trinidad for western Venezuela, where she would meet other Trinidadian relatives who had migrated before her. She lived there until her death.
Angela, one of Holder’s daughters, was Ventura Brown’s grandmother and the last Trinidadian descendant of the family in Venezuela.
“I am the eldest daughter of eight siblings and that is why I took on the responsibility of coming to TT after the death of my grandmother Angela to look for our family and establish bonds again,” said Ventura Brown.
In 2001, after she graduated from the Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta, where she studied community development, she came to Trinidad on her first “contact trip.” She met a cousin who introduced her to relatives, who she said live in different parts of the country.
Ventura Brown travelled several times between the two countries before settling down in Trinidad in 2002. She married a Trinidadian and had two children – Andere and Andrés. The marriage ended in divorce. She married again and had a daughter, Andana.
“At the beginning I did a lot of crafts to sell. I went two years without a permanent job, and I started to make friends, both local and Venezuelan and that’s when I start to get to know the cultures and traditions of my country and of TT. That guided me towards a project that was the turning point of my life.”
Ventura Brown, with several friends, ??started a magazine – T&Taras Guide – in 2006, which lasted for three years and 12 editions.
“It was a bilingual magazine to promote TT’s influence in the Americas and vice versa, with stories, business and culture.”
The magazine content included focusing on the stories of Hispanic women, and it was supported by the Venezuelan embassy and other organisations in this effort.
“We did reports on outstanding and working women in their areas in order to change the stigma of prostitution a bit.”
The magazine’s short run was affected by a decline in the TT government’s interest in promoting Spanish as a foreign language. Previous administrations promoted bilingualism, and street signs in Spanish and English were put up, mostly in Port of Spain, but there has been little action on the plan since then.
Also, Ventura Brown was unable to continue financing the magazine.
But she continued to work with NGOs in TT who assist the immigrant community here.
“We did vacation camps teaching Hispanic and local children, helping detainees at IDC, supporting women victims of trafficking and prostitution.”
After seven years of social work, Ventura Brown decided in 2017 to create a space for the Spanish-speaking community, and set up the Hispanic Cultural Centre.
“We rented a house on Pro Queen Street, Arima. At first we took in the same children from the camps and a few Venezuelans who were coming to TT, especially children, to teach them English, and the language exchange began with teachers who came from Venezuela.”
It has also become a point of cultural exchange.
Ventura Brown herself has performed in a casino salsa dance showcase, sang for several years in the parang group Rebuscar, and won two awards for the best children’s parang composition. She is also the director and founder of the parranda group Herencia Venezolana.
At La Casita many of the education programmes are cultural.
“We are always trying to mix the Trinidadian culture with the Venezuelan, we participate as La Casita in carnivals and in diverse events.”
La Casita was made the centre’s official name and it became a centre for support, advice and education for refugees.
“Before the registration by the TT government in 2019, few low-profile Hispanic people arrived, owing to the issue of legality. But after the registration, we really saw the large number of Venezuelans who are here,” she said.