Tired, Hungry, and Fed Up: Venezuelan Migrants Seek Refuge in Spain
June 28, 2019
By Dominic Torres
VALENCIA, SPAIN — Anti-government protests have taken over Venezuela. Fed up citizens have made way for a revolution in an attempt to force out president Nicholas Maduro.
They say they are tired, hungry, and have no hope for the future.
“There is no food, there is no gas, there is no light, there is no water. All because of corruption,” Martin said, a Venezuelan migrant who does not want to be identified.
Military officials will defend Maduro’s stance at all costs. Teargas, live rounds, and armored trucks line the streets of Venezuela daily.
For those who do stay, fighting seems to be the only option.
Life or death are two very real parallels for those who support the power struggle of opposition leader Juan Guiado.
As people flee in an attempt to escape poverty and violence, many see the United States as the ideal refuge. Yet, fleeing Venezuela is becoming an impossible mission.
Venezuela’s borders are on the brink of chaos. On Monday, around 200 migrants from Venezuela were refused entry at the Chile — Peru border. A week earlier, the Brazilian border was forced to close because of officials were overwhelmed by too many Venezuelans seeking asylum.
Thousands of miles away from the chilean border, Europe is becoming home to an increasing amount of migrants from Latin America. Venezuelans are now the number one asylum seekers in Spain.
Some asking for an old favor, citizenship from family members.
“All my family lives here I already have a brother who is Spanish, my family is Romanian, my father is Romanian so the possibility of me coming to Spain was easier to emigrate,“ Teodoro Lascarov said, a refugee from Venezuela.
Existing family ties in Europe are clearly a game changer for some. Unlike the stringent anti-immigration laws of the US, EU laws allow for migrants to have rights in Spain.
A plane ticket from Venezuela can land you in Valencia, Spain, where you don’t even need a visa.
“It can be to have access to universal health care and have access to schooling for their children, that allows them to start a new life,” David Gonzalez said, a social worker at Casa Caridad.
Many Venezuelans can find their first job in Valencia delivering food for restaurants like McDonalds. The Glovo app makes it possible for anyone to work under someone else’s name. All that is needed is someone with citizenship status and a phone for an account.
A Venezuelan asylum seeker who didn’t want to be identified will be called Martin. Martin fled Venezuela after police arrived at his home, put a gun to his head, and forced him to leave the country.
“I left everything I abandoned everything I left my home I left my house my. Cars My studies. And we had nothing… we come to Spain to live a new life and here we are starting from scratch,” Martin said.
It is people like Jose Zapata who are giving so many Venezuelan refugees their lives back. His restaurant works with food delivery services.
If it weren’t for folks like Zapata who take chances on migrants, most would be unemployed and still in limbo.
Zapata, who is also from Venezuela, feels that the issues in his home country are far from over.
“It’s like this. Imagine that you are kidnapped. You will not free yourself you need help from the police… this the case of Venezuela. We have been kidnapped from the government and we need help,” Zapata said.
Latin America remains kidnapped and paralyzed by a migrant crisis and the American dream remains a golden ticket for those seeking a better life, but some are realizing the hard way, that dream is not always the way out.
After her dad was deported over 3,000 miles to Spain, Maria Cabrera, lived in constant fear that she would be deported next.
With her father gone, she became homeless. suddenly, the golden ticket was not so golden after all.
With so many migrants taking a chance to reach the US, Cabrera was already there, she has her own take about why she left.
“Being on DACA, was very comforting at first, because I felt like, you know, the government is finally recognizing that I am more American than anything else. And I am a person. I’m not just someone living or under the shadows hiding in fear,” Cabrera said.
Cabrera said that this experience has given her a feeling of loneliness. “You don’t have anybody to be with, just feeling alone in the world… no one’s there to help you to tender you, to love you… you just have to be alone, it’s just really hard,” Cabrera said.
That feeling of loneliness is what many migrants have to face on their journey for a better life in any country.
But Cabrera says that Spain not only offers her a sense of freedom but also the sense of community she never had in the US.
“The culture is very close even though it’s not exactly the same it’s very close. The people here is very very familiar oriented, like we are in Latin America,” Zapata said.
Right now a wave of migrants in Latin America remain in limbo. As the power struggle in Venezuela pushes it is people to leave, Spain is becoming overburdened by asylum seekers.
Gonzalez says services like housing at Casa Caridad that once took a month to provide are now taking closer to a year.
Moving forward, Spain remains a safe haven for migrants who are desperately trying to escape poverty and violence. Something that may not end without foreign support.
