Boat­loads of Venezue­lans are still con­tin­u­ing to se­cret­ly en­ter Trinidad through Ica­cos even though the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Stu­art Young an­nounced that all bor­ders are now in lock­down. Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed the coastal vil­lages of Coro­man­del, Fullar­ton, Ica­cos and Bonasse yes­ter­day to see whether there was any phys­i­cal proof of ad­di­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty. No ad­di­tion­al po­lice, sol­diers or coast guard were seen.

How­ev­er, res­i­dents said the num­ber of il­le­gal Venezue­lans had in­creased since vi­o­lent street protests erupt­ed in Venezuela fol­low­ing the at­tempt by Op­po­si­tion leader Juan Guai­do to oust Pres­i­dent Nicholas Maduro. Short­ly be­fore the T&T Guardian team ar­rived at Ica­cos Beach at noon, res­i­dents said a boat with five Venezue­lans pulled up and the oc­cu­pants ran out and en­tered a forest­ed area to hide. A source, who re­quest­ed anonymi­ty, said more than 50 Venezue­lans were seen en­ter­ing Ica­cos dur­ing Mon­day night and about a dozen ven­tured in dur­ing the day.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]