Miguel 12 fled Venezuela and arrived Curaçao in April 2019 after receiving death threats from what he claims to be government-allied criminal groups. The coastguard intercepted his boat and, after handing him over to the Curaçaoan immigration police, he was detained in the Foreigners Barracks. Neither in the police cell nor in the barracks was he told about his rights or of the possibility of asking for international protection: “They didn’t tell us about our rights – nothing. They forced us to sign a letter [a deportation order]. We had no idea what would happen to us,” said Miguel. When he had been placed in the Foreigners Barracks, he was able to get the number of Human Rights Defense Curaçao (HRDC), who helped him find a lawyer to start his Protection Procedure.

In June 2019, police officers shot Miguel and four other Venezuelans in the Foreigners Barracks using rubber bullets.13 The men had no access to a complaints procedure, nor was there a prompt, thorough and independent investigation. Together with the other men affected, Miguel started a procedure at the European Court on the grounds of detention and the conditions of detention. The European Court proposed that the involved parties should try to reach a friendly settlement. Finally, following a decision by the Minister of Justice, Miguel was released in September 2019, after five months in detention.

At the time of the writing of this report, more than three years after Miguel’s protection request, the authorities have still not decided on his case. The process of reaching a friendly settlement is still ongoing. He has not heard about his protection case, nor about the procedure at the European Court: “Nothing, nothing... We don’t know anything at all... We feel lost.”14 He is not permitted to work, and finds it hard to support himself and his family: “We live day by day. If I can find work, we eat. If I don’t have work, we don’t eat.”15

12 Amnesty International, Still no Safety, “The case of Miguel”, p. 21.
13 Amnesty International, Still no Safety, “Shot with rubber bullets”, p. 40-41.
14 Interview with Miguel (name has been changed to respect the interviewee’s anonymity], 1 August 2022. 15 Interview with Miguel, 1 August 2022.

Text © Amnesty International 2023 – published in the report “Curaçao: Little improvement in the Protection of Venezuelans” Monitoring Report 2023