On my 67 camper I cut a "thumb hole" into the rear panel on the
back hatch to gain access to the "trigger" on the latch...you
can probably do the same on the vanagon...or put a piece of
wire or fishing line onto the "trigger" and then out thru
a little hole in the panel.

BTW...one of the nice features of the EV is that it has a large
latch on the inside of the rear hatch to to this very thing.

Ric