A Man without a Country
For Venezuelans who face death or imprisonment at home, US asylum changes are terrifying- one journalists quagmire
(Santa Marta, Colombia)- “Luis” fled his country after receiving threats against his life and his family. The final decision came when Venezuelan intelligence visited his house- luckily he was not home at the time.
He know finds himself in a Kafka-esque legal quagmire in Colombia. With no exit papers, no passport and no ability to return home, he is a man without a country.
He is one of millions.
His chances of being admitted to the US are small. The Trump administration is no longer granting temporary protection (TPS) visas to Venezuelans, according to senators Dick Durbin and Bob Menendez. The news arrives the same day immigration officials announced unilateral and draconian revisions to existing asylum laws.
This makes Venezuelans currently residing inside of America at risk of being deported back to a country known for extra-judicially killing political dissidents.
More horrifically, it also abandons many who are currently trapped in Colombia- some of whom offered material assistance to the U.S government and North American press.
Currently 1 in 5 asylum seekers in the US are Venezuelan.
Some of them, like Luis, fear that to return home would be a death sentence.
Exiled Journalist
“Luis” is a journalist from Maracaibo in western Venezuela. A year ago, after writing a story about the hospitals in his city, his family was informed they would no longer receive the food boxes provided by the government (referred to the as the CLAP program). He was also told by police that they would be watching him.
“I didn’t really care at the time. The CLAP boxes aren’t enough to survive on anyway, and I made $100 a month, which is pretty good money in Venezuela.” he told me.
Other dissidents are not so lucky. In a nation where the vast majority work for $6 a month, the CLAP boxes may be insufficient, but they are better than starving to death. The regime uses this dependence to enforce loyalty and punish those who criticize their policies.
He covered the food costs for his mother and sister from his salary as a journalist and continued writing, but things came to a head three months ago. Protests in response to ongoing blackouts rocked his city for weeks and on April 30th, the day of Juan Guiado’s failed coupe attempt, they turned violent.
The regime response was horrific. Colectivos (Venezuelan paramilitaries) and National Guard alike were deployed to disperse protesters, with tanks and firearms.
Luis reported on the protests, having to hide at various points throughout the day as armed Colectivos on motorcycles hunted down protesters, firing at civilians with live bullets.
“I remember hiding in an abandoned apartment with strangers. We ducked below the windows to move around, fearful of being seen. We listened to the gunshots. We listened to the battle in the streets.” he told me.
His report on the events of that day drew more attention from the authorities. Venezuelan secret police (FAES) visited his building and arrested neighbors that had participated in the protests. Fearful, he began sleeping at his girlfriends apartment.
FAES returned again to his building, this time asking for him by name. Luckily he was not home. His roommates told the officers he no longer lived there. That is when he knew that he had to flee.
“I have colleagues that have been detained and charged with terrorism, or for ‘fomenting hatred’ (a nebulous law that Venezuelan authorities use to detain critics). All they did was write the truth. I knew when FAES visited that I could never go back to my apartment.” said Luis.
He has since fled the country illegally, crossing through the dangerous smuggling paths into Colombia- doing so officially at the border seemed too dangerous.
“I have absolutely no doubt that I am on a list. If (Venezuelan) police stopped me and called my name in to be checked, I would be arrested immediately.” he said.
Luis can never return to his homeland, and he fears releasing more details of his story would bring retribution down on his family and friends.
He is currently looking for informal work in Colombia. He is unable to work legally, as he officially does not exist here. He has applied for asylum in Colombia, if that fails he will apply in Mexico or Canada. And only as a third option will he be allowed to apply in the United States under new “Third country laws”- it is a byzantine process. The new asylum laws in the US are confusing and as of filing this story, no one seems to be exactly sure how to implement them. They are also being challenged in court.
The process to apply is likely to keep changing- and as long as it does, he is stuck here, like hundreds of thousands of others both within the US and outside of its borders.
He is a man without a country.
for more stories about Venezuela you can visit www.murosinvisibles.com or follow us on twitter at @InvisiblesMuros
Joshua Collins is a freelance reporter covering the Venezuelan immigration from the border in Cucuta, Colombia. He is also the editor of Muros Invisibles.
