They are close to 400,000 in Spain“if not more”, “and among so many people there are many sensations.” It is enough to have a few conversations with your people for relevant words to emerge: illusion, sadness, nostalgia, fear…and of course esperanza. But a “nuanced, somewhat skeptical” hope quickly summarizes Alfonzo Iannucci. He, a journalist based in Madrid, is one of the immense community of Venezuelans forced to build a new life in Spain. An exile in a “sister land” that has welcomed us completely” and from which they do not stop looking at their homeland, as their colleague Carleth Morales explains.
Thousands of kilometers away, Venezuela is once again cracking after a despotic self-investiture by Nicolás Maduro and with the opposition waiting for its “moment.” What, when and how will happen —“whatever has to happen,” they confess in chorus— are the big questions faced by a people accustomed to constant crisis, the fight for freedom and having to leave behind their own land amidst threats and repression.
Alfonzo, responsible for the and the portal, shares a profession with Carleth, president of . This Human Rights activist confesses that, since the 10th, “frustration is the word I hear the most from Venezuela.” The calls are multiplying “asking for information on how to come, because There were a lot of hopes on that January 10th and on January 10th nothing happened“. “And my heart sinks when they talk to me about whether to stay or leave, because whatever you do it’s difficult.”
The unrest is not only in Madrid, the great world capital of the Venezuelan diaspora. Stuck in the cold of Valladolid, Julianny Duran He shares the “anger and nostalgia” that his environment and the hundreds of members he presides transmit to him.
She assumes it with “responsibility” because she knows she is the representative not only of her members, nor of the thousands of compatriots in the city, but because ““We are the voice here of those who cannot speak there.”. Against the silence of those who remain silent so as not to end up kidnapped by the Government, here it is their turn to speak. “And mobilize for our freedom, because the fight belongs to everyone,” he adds.
“We can all do a lot where we are,” he explains. José Luis Acuñapresident of the From Barcelona, he defends that some can do it “on a political level”, others can help “at a communication level, with Venezuelans and non-Venezuelans to explain what is happening”, or also “in an operational way by providing aid.” Because, although the distance is immense in terms of kilometers, “it is never disconnected from your land of origin.”
If we do not die of hopelessness in 2014, 2017 or 2019 we will not die now
Carleth Morales, president of Venezuelan Press
The important thing for the person in charge of the association is that “we join forces to once again have a democratic Venezuela”, a task that affects society as a whole. Of his work, he highlights that “one of the more difficult things es help those who come without resourcesdespite the great work done by Cáritas or the Red Cross. I’d say it’s even easier to help the one over there.”
The conversations with Alfonzo, Carleth, Julianny and José Luis They occur days after the aforementioned 10-E. The day scheduled for Maduro’s self-proclamation and the expected triumphant reappearance of Edmundo González. . Zero surprises for the journalist. “It was as expectedit couldn’t be any other way. Edmundo González’s promise was to say that he would do something that he was not going to be able to do. I believe, with all due respect, that promising his return was somewhat irresponsible“Alfonzo laments.
Within that “nuanced hope” that began the talk, this communicator born in Villa del Cura (Aragua) believes that the immediate scenario will be “one quite similar to what happened with Juan Guaidó in 2019with a certain international recognition for Edmundo, but without translating into a change of government.
“Popularly it was revealed that they are a 30% minority, but that is not enough to change a dictatorial regime like Venezuela. For two centuries no change has occurred due to popular pressure, but rather due to military attempts.“, something that Alfonzo rules out in the short term. Basically, because “there has not been a single show of real support from the military leadership for Edmundo… although I also tell you that in Venezuela we have a saying, the army is loyal until it rebels“.
We hope to reach the ‘end’ that María Corina promised. We do not know what or when it will be, but we are working to achieve it, although now it is time, again, for the political game.
José Luis Acuña, president of Asocaven
Julianny shares María Corina Machado’s phrase, accusing Maduro of “decorating himself with the presidential sash, but on his ankle,” giving “the image to the world of what he is, a dictator“. “If at a bingo they don’t give you a prize without presenting the card, how can you be president without minutes. The opposition did present them,” he says.
He knows that it is a more useful gesture for international recognition than to confirm an internal change, but he trusts. The head of Asveva believes that Maria Corina and Edmundo “are doing well and only they know the strategy they will follow. I I’m sure something is going to happen, because it’s been almost 25 years like this.“.
A quarter of a century “waiting for a change.” “And if we don’t die of hopelessness in 2014, 2017 or 2019, we won’t die now,” says Carleth. The head of Venezuelan Press believes that Now it’s time for “a time of reflection”.
“The town is in a time to know what happened and project what will happen. It already happened to us with Leopoldo López, with Capriles and with Guaidó. Now it’s time to see if, after this time, the leaders continue to be María Corina and Edmundo or if other alternatives emerge,” she explains. For the journalist from Caracas, “that relative silence that is perceived after 10-E is the natural and necessary evolution ; We can’t go out like headless chickens.”
She claims to speak “as a journalist, as an activist and as a Venezuelan” before stating that “our people have a lifelong commitment to murdered, repressed and exiled Venezuelans. So many lives are not going to fall into the ruin of despair.” They will not, José Luis continues, because We hope to reach the ‘end’ that María Corina promised. “We do not know what or when it will be, but we are working to achieve it, although now it is time, again, for the political and diplomatic game,” he concludes.
“It’s hard to think that a country like Venezuela can live isolated from the world. You just have to look around. The Syrian regimewith a ruler ‘bolted’ to power for generations has fallen. We know that the 10th was not the day, but they didn’t tell us that the day was the 10th, hope persists.”
Emotion in the demonstration for Venezuela on January 9 in Madrid
Their voices meet and disagree at different points in the interviews. What they do agree on completely is his affection for his second country, Spaina nation that plays a key role in the Venezuelan issue. Gratitude becomes “infinite” in Carleth’s words towards “our sister land.” But she and her compatriots score distances due to political treatment towards the Maduro regime.
José Luis is clear that it would be “unfair” to criticize the country that has given them some reception and residence conditions “as is not done in other countries”. And this, it must be said, is done by the Government, but at the same time Government lacks a forceful statement against Maduro and his swearing-in”, as if the opposition had done it. In Barcelona, where he has lived for 14 years, he is struck by the union of parties such as Junts, PP and Vox towards Edmundo, which he sees “a sign that this is not about ideology, but of democracy”.
For Julianny, beyond ideologies, “Venezuelans We expect a step forward from the Government, recognizing Edmundo González as president-elect, something they have not yet done.” The president of Venezuelan Press also does not want to enter into the ideological nuance, which is pragmatic. Carleth Morales does not hesitate to express “my gratitude to the Spanish opposition” in its support for the alternative democratic “and I don’t care about the reasons “That’s why they do it, the reality is that instead of discussing other things they fight for the freedom of Venezuela.”
She does not delve into reproaches to the central Executive and does return to the welcome factor, “a gracious concession that privileges us compared to other nationalities; As long as this gracious concession is maintained, I will continue to be grateful for what the Government does beyond its speech.” Because, he concludes, “that is also serving the people of Venezuela,” a people who “here or there” continue with longing for freedom.
