For more than a year, Jesús Gabriel, a 12-year-old boy, has used his voice to sing to customers on a “hunger street” (a food truck concentration) in Cumaná, despite the fact that he has never been to a music school.
Víctor Federico González // Correspondent lapatilla.com
His day may start between 6:00 and 7:00 at night every day and ends late at night, collecting the equivalent of 6 U.S. dollars a day, which allows him to collaborate with his mother -currently unemployed- and his older brother with food expenses.
Jesús Gabriel dreams of dedicating himself to singing, but he is very clear that he must first finish his studies. In the last week he worked towards the goal of paying for his degree package, since he is about to be promoted to his first year of high school.
He now has the goal of collecting the money necessary to cover the expenses of the celebratory party and share it with his schoolmates. “I’m fine in class and I can come to sing, because they don’t send any homework,” he commented to the lapatilla.com team in this eastern state.
In another part of the city there is also Adrián, a 12-year-old teenager who works as a waiter at a fast food kiosk at night. By day, he sells candies and sweets on the outskirts of Farmatodo.
He says that he takes advantage of the fact that he only receives classes three days a week. “I don’t like being at home, I can’t stand being locked up for even an hour, knowing that I can go sell something on the street or work at night,” he said.
Adrián’s case is quite striking, because for years he has been observed in various parts of the city, from selling sweets to appealing to the solidarity of the Cumaneses (begging).
Likewise, on different occasions he has been approached by the minor protection authorities, but he has escaped because he does not like to be in any shelter, according to what he said.
Lost childhood
Every June 12th, is commemorated the World Day against Child Labor, a scourge that is in full view in cities like Cumaná and Carúpano in Sucre State, in eastern Venezuela, while the central government measures to reduce this problem are nonexistent. This is an anniversary that was established by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2002 to denounce child exploitation.
According to experts, this is a reality that is “invisible” due to the absence of any official figures that allow us to know the real magnitude of the problem in the country. In addition, they agree that the economic crisis, the deficiencies of education today and violence are factors that push children and adolescents (NNA) to change their childhood for work.
It is worth saying that child labor can prevent children from continuing with their studies and diminishes their opportunities when they reach adulthood. Likewise, specialists warn that for children and adolescents living on the streets or who are active at work, there is a very thin line that is easy to break between to drive then into drug trafficking, prostitution and delinquency.
In Sucre State, the presence of infants on buses, fast food outlets, ice cream parlors, shopping malls and other places to sell products or ask for financial help has been around for a long time.
Citizens affirm that it is a reality that although it has been happening for a long time, it has boomed during the last two years. Among those places “preferred” by minors in Cumaná are Farmatodo, Bermúdez y Mariño Avenue (economic center of the city), the Mini-terminal, the Municipal Market and the well-known “hunger streets”.
Sources consulted for the preparation of this report confirmed to Lapatilla.com that in the main food outlet of the First city on the American mainland, children and adolescents are seen asking for food, working in exchange for money or food, stealing, consuming alcohol and even being subjected to sexual exploitation.
Latent dangers
The coordinator of the Venezuelan Violence Observatory (OVV) Sucre chapter, Carmen Julia Amundarain, reported that this eastern state continues to be a “focus of migration to the Caribbean islands, specifically to Trinidad and Tobago”, which is why he trafficking of children and adolescents continues to be seen, even children from other regions of the national territory.
The OVV Sucre spokeswoman said that Sucre State families are “dismembered” by migration, intra-family problems, poverty, intra-family violence, circumstances that accelerate the contact of children and adolescents with the street as a method of survival.
Ms. Amundarain specified that the starting point is Güiria, Capital of the Valdez municipality, and added that there are cases in which they use illegal documentation to achieve their mission. According to OVV-Sucre investigations, the high cost of living, violence and guaranteeing food in their homes are the main reasons for children to decide to go out into the streets to look for jobs.
In this sense, she highlighted that Sucre is below the levels of extreme poverty compared to the rest of the nation according to the Survey of Living Conditions (Encovi) and that since 2014 there are no official data on nutrition in the Sucre region.
Among the recommendations to the State to reduce the damage caused by this the problem is the design of public policies aimed at the protection of children, the application of current legislation for their protection, and the training of children and their parents to know how to face “the street”.
Merchants position
In the different “streets of hunger” in Cumaná, children and adolescents can be seen cleaning windshields, selling sweets, singing or simply resorting to the kindness of consumers (begging).
The latter causes serious problems for the owners and managers of the kiosks and food trucks, which is why they call on the regional and municipal authorities to act against this reality and take measures to guarantee the healthy development of children and adolescents.
They also mentioned that they usually offer them food, even responsibilities within the establishments to give them remuneration and in this way help them in their goal of obtaining the necessary resources to at least partially provide food for their families.
“There are opportunities that become a problem, they are the protagonists of arguments that scare away our customers, and when they start asking (begging), they make our customers uncomfortable and this becomes a contention point for the children to respect the customers,” said the manager of a kiosk who sells hot dogs and hamburgers who asked not to be named.
Attempts at protection
For the Director of the Municipal Council for the Rights of Boys, Girls and Adolescents (Cmdnna), Victoria Bello, there is much to be done in the Capital of Sucre to reduce child exploitation or guarantee the protection of minors who decide to go on the streets, for whatever the reasons there may be, in the search of their economic sustenance.
Ms. Bello said that in Cumaná there is a permanent deployment of Cmdnna personnel to prevent infants from frequenting certain places and exposing themselves to situations that violate their integrity. The official asserted that in many cases they have a home, “but with many problems, and it is the reason why they prefer to go to the streets to find a job or ask for help.”
She recognized that among its weaknesses as an institution is the lack of transportation to be able to cover strategic points in the city after 8:00 at night, which is used by children and adolescents to go out, and also not having a shelter that belongs to the Cmdnna.
Among her strengths, she highlighted the willingness of the staff that accompanies her and the talks they give to parents, guardians and minors.