"Why I left Venezuela": survivor stories, first person

Races, multiple demonstrations, huge rows to get meat or remedies, omens, desperate people. The images coming from Venezuela are multiplying, devastating. Between what news programs and international agencies reflect, there are two types of painful postcards: the thousands of people who decide to escape and those who say goodbye to those who stay in their country of origin.

The International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Migration Organization and UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, have indicated that the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela in the world has reached three million.
In the survey, it was clarified that Latin American and Caribbean countries 2.4 million of these peoplewhile other regions received the remaining 600,000.

Among the destinations, many have chosen Argentina to start all over again. According to the National Directorate of Migration (DNM), in 2018, 70,531 Venezuelans presented the corresponding documentation enabling them to settle in the country. In 2016, Venezuela was the fifth country on the list of registrations, behind Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. Two years later, he was in first place.

The DNM also reported that, from 2012 to date, between temporary and permanent, 127 152 Venezuelans resided in Argentina. A large part of this number has been added to the PEA (active economic population) because they are young people. In general, they are professionals or have a university education or study in some faculties and are integrated into the formal labor market.

"This is not what we chose, we had not dreamed of going to Argentina"

María Carolina Roldán He was born and raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela's second most populous city. He escaped from there in October 2016 when he embarked on a trip with Sara, his daughter, now 10 years old.. "We chose Argentina because of the ease of the documents, it was worrying for me to arrive in an illegal country, we did not want to be like that, there had been Meme it no choice but to come without my daughter, "she says. Infobae.

The decision to emigrate responded to various factors caused by a social, economic and labor crisis that transformed his life. Caroline is separated from the father of her daughter, who did not want to leave her country. And with the help of his sister, who currently lives in the United States, he arrived in Buenos Aires. "I worked at a shoe store and bookstore, as well as at a newsstand for three weeks. But they paid me $ 1,000 and I left. The most stable thing I found was driving. I drive as a driver since May 2018", says the 38-year-old woman.

His first five months of work went well. However, everything changed in the early morning of September 27: "I got up at 4 o'clock and found the car burned with the inscription Uber while I was never working for Uber. I came from my country to dodge these situations and I found that, I did not deserve it"Remember.

A week of anxiety and another to be reborn: Carolina has returned to the streets to ask for work, distribute resumes and ask for recommendations to return to driving. And he succeeded. "I am entitled to one day off a week, but I do not take it, my income is for production, what I do in the week is what I will collect later"he explains.

About her family, Carolina says she talks to her father every day: "He never left me. Sometimes I feel like I do not want to talk too much because it hurts me not to have them with me. Spending birthdays when I spend them at my father's place hurts me. Spend a Christmas with my daughter, alone, hurts. This is not what we choose, we have not dreamed of going to Argentina. In the future, we can come back. I had lost hope, but if my country is released, I will come back. "

Red Lormys Smile Even after shedding tears when she remembers her parents, who are in Cantaura, Venezuela. "Because of their health and their advanced age, I could not bring them," he says. Infobae.

Company director, arrived in Argentina almost three years ago. His plan, he recalls, seemed strange to his friends and family.He has had great children, over 40 years and a career in his country related to various oil projects. However, he decided to leave to start again.

"It's usually young people leaving, but I wanted to change course, look for other horizons," he says.

In 2015, he started planning his departure. It was difficult for him to leave his children, who had already completed their studies and they were about to start their university career.

It was a time in Italy, but it did not work. By some knowledge, he arrived in Buenos Aires and since then he has done everything. He was working in his family's household, caring for an elderly person, running a consortium. Little by little, he was able to save money so that his children could leave Venezuela. Today, everyone is in Buenos Aires, even the grandson of Lormys.

"All Venezuelans with whom I meet have the same feeling. It's spending a lot of time without being able to see your family. The problem always lies in knowing that those who have stayed do not have all the comforts and facilities that can be one, "he says, moved.

From the music capital to the world

Caesar Perez was born in Barquisimeto, a locality located in western Venezuela, to which the whole world refers as the musical city of the country. How could it be otherwise, from an early age eight months ago, he moved to Buenos Aires and works every day in the Buenos Aires subway with his bbadoon or saxophone– He found in music a real pbadion.

"I devote myself entirely to music: I work and live with music in the subway and in various orchestras, among which I am part of a beautiful project called Latin Box Machine," says the artist. , which continued in his native country. musical career in various prestigious institutions and he did a postgraduate degree to specialize in teaching.

"It's very difficult what's going on, it's really a very personal opinion because I'm not a politician," says the young man, who is moved to remember the musicians with whom he was trained in his country.

"What I can say is that this situation overcomes all the differences we may have and what we all want, Venezuelans, is peace and democracy, "he said.