“Nothing like Venezuela”, three words that Venezuelans repatriated from the Republic of Peru expressed hours before returning to their country. Their greatest wish is to reunite with their families and give them a hug.
The awakening from false promises
“I came to Peru because my three cousins convinced me”, was what Bianca Luna, a Venezuelan mother with a one-year-old child in her arms, said. Three months was spent by this woman selling coffee and chocolate in a corner for 14 and up to 16 hours a day.
“It was not what I expected, I was thrilled to buy a toy for my son, but I couldn’t do that”. Along with her son, her mother and her grandmother, various calamities were in store for them, from being thrown out to the street for not having to pay the rent, to sleeping on the floor and eating with the little they earned selling coffee.
The pattern of false expectations is repeated, Alixis Loreto and her husband, did not escape falling into the unreal promises that are sold through social networks. “We came to Peru because they offered a job online to my husband, and when we arrived it was false, the page did not exist”.
The 22-year-old girl with a baby barely a month old also commented about her experience in giving birth. “Everything went fine with the check out, but at the time of the cesarean, having my insurance, they made me pay almost the entire cost of the intervention anyway. Besides that, when we decided to return to Venezuela, they did not let me take my baby out of the country, because I did not have a DNI (Peruvian identity document). It was the Venezuelan Consul who helped us process my daughter’s documents”.
The testimony of Manuel Martínez, an engineering professional, does not escape resembling the two women. Manuel left Venezuela with the illusion of “finding better opportunities and a better future”, but in his journey through the South American country, his life took a very different turn from what was planned”.
While being there, I was diagnosed with vasculitis (blockage of blood in the arteries), which brought me a series of complications and then the loss of six of my fingers”, he said.
Despite he just had a few days since leaving the clinic, this Venezuelan left with the conviction to fight for a better future but in his country”. In my experience, I prefer to stay in my country and keep fighting, in there I would not have been through this” he said.
Learning to love our own
Yoleici Díaz, who left Venezuela to “try his luck” abroad, is one of those Venezuelans who feel duty-bound to alert their compatriots.
“My call is not to get carried away by the media. I advise you to really think before you leave, things may be hard, but like our country, there is none”.
Plan Vuelta a la Patria
With this new arrival of 98 Venezuelans to Simón Bolívar Airport in Maiquetía, there are already eight flights from the city of Lima in Peru, where a total of 756 people have been repatriated.
It should be noted that since the launch of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria, designed by President Nicolás Maduro Moros, a total of 8,401 nationals from Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Chile and Panama have been returned to the country; and they are waiting to return another 9,231.
Photos: Malva Suárez
