4 Venezuelans homeless after violent attack ends with house set on fire

Four Venezuelan migrant workers have been left homeless after the two-storey wooden house they occupied along King Street, Hampshire Village, Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), was destroyed by fire following a violent confrontation during which one of the occupants was allegedly chopped with a cutlass. The blaze, which erupted shortly before midday on Monday, completely destroyed the elevated wooden building, leaving only its charred frame standing. Firefighters managed to contain the flames before they spread to neighbouring properties, but the occupants lost all of their clothing, household items and personal belongings. The house, a two-storey wooden structure with corrugated metal roofing, was occupied by four Venezuelan nationals who had been living and working in the area. By the time firefighters arrived, the building was already engulfed in flames, and despite their efforts, it was reduced to a burnt shell.
Investigators are probing the circumstances surrounding the fire, which is believed to have been deliberately set. The incident occurred hours after one of the occupants was attacked with a cutlass during a confrontation involving a man from the community. One of the occupants, 24-year-old Cheto Johnathan Heberto, said the ordeal began when a man arrived at the house during the night and confronted the men who were staying there. “The man come at the house there. Four men, we does sleep there. The night he come he talk, talk too much. He go home and come back, bring cutlass. One of the boy sleep at the lower flat. The man come over and chop him, to kill him,” Heberto recounted. He said the men had travelled to Guyana to work and had been living peacefully at the Hampshire property.

“We come here to work and live. We living right here, sleep. That man clothes, me clothes, the other man clothes, everybody clothes burn up.”
Residents in the community said the confrontation escalated after the suspect allegedly entered the area late Sunday night and assaulted another resident while demanding to know the whereabouts of two of the Venezuelan men. According to residents, the suspect later returned to his home, armed himself with a cutlass and allegedly went to another nearby house, where he chopped at a door before crossing the street to the building occupied by the Venezuelan workers.
It was there, residents alleged, that one of the occupants was attacked and injured with the cutlass before the suspect fled the scene. A neighbour rushed the injured man to hospital, where he remains a patient receiving medical treatment. While attention was focused on getting the injured man to hospital, another resident claimed she saw the suspect preparing what appeared to be bottles containing a flammable liquid. According to the resident, the bottles were thrown at the house occupied by the Venezuelan nationals shortly before it became engulfed in flames.
She further alleged that bottles were also thrown into her yard, igniting her cherry tree and causing minor damage to sections of her property before the fire spread.
Residents said they were unable to determine what triggered the confrontation but claimed the suspect had been smoking marijuana before the incident and appeared to become increasingly aggressive. The fire destroyed the entire upper flat of the building, leaving only blackened timber posts and sections of the corrugated roofing standing. The lower flat also sustained extensive fire and water damage, while debris from the collapsed structure was scattered around the property. Neighbours watched helplessly as firefighters battled the blaze, preventing it from spreading to nearby homes despite the intensity of the flames.
The four Venezuelan nationals are now homeless and are left with only the clothes they were wearing, having lost all of their possessions in the fire.
Investigations into both the fire and the violent attack are continuing.