Foreign Affairs Minister Surujrattan Rambachan and Venezuelan Ambassador to this country Eugenia Marcano Casado have intervened in the matter of three missing fishermen from Moruga. In a telephone interview yesterday, Rambachan said he is working with the Trinidad and Tobago Embassy in Venezuela to determine whether the men are in fact being held at a military base off the coast of Venezuela. Rambachan said he had no idea if such a base exists.
"I have been keeping in contact with the families. I really want this to be resolved," he said. In a release, Ambassador Marcano Casado said the Military Attaché at the Embassy, in cooperation with the T&T Coast Guard, had taken action informing the relevant authorities in Venezuela about the situation. She said Embassy officials met with missing fisherman Nigel Boodoo's wife. Marcano Casado assured that they are working on the matter.
On January 11, fishermen, Stephan Charles, Nigel Boodoo and another man identified only as Hakim, left for an overnight fishing trip off the waters of Tobago. Nine days later, they are yet to be accounted for.
Charles' wife, Samantha, said by telephone yesterday that she went to the Venezuelan Embassy and submitted a photograph of her husband. "They told me they are working hard at trying to locate the men," she said. Boodoo's wife, Clara, said she, too, has been in touch with the Embassy. Both families are optimistic that the men are alive and will return home.
