Venezuelan migrants flee homeland, find new home in Central Florida

  Venezuela was once a prosperous and rich country that sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves but for the past two decades, it’s been […]

 

Venezuela was once a prosperous and rich country that sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves but for the past two decades, it’s been crumbling with an ongoing political and socio-economic crisis.

By clickorlando

The United Nations reported more than 5.6 million Venezuelans have left their country with thousands starting a new life in Central Florida, like José Gamboa.

“My mom had to get a surgery once done. If I wasn’t here to be able to send the money to be able to pay for that surgery who knows what would’ve happened to her,” Gamboa, a Venezuelan refugee said.

He left his country five years ago but his parents and siblings still live there.

“It was very difficult. The fact that I didn’t have my family with me was the hardest challenge. I’ve been able to help them as much as I can — sending them food, non-perishable supplies; things that they need to get in communication. Every day that I go out and I can go into a Publix and find the stuff that I need, I don’t have to do a line for food or I can go to a hospital and get treated, I know that’s not the same reality for my family and that saddens me,” Gamboa said.

It’s a reality of a country where the poverty level is more than 90%.

“I really saw not only that there wasn’t a future for young people like me but that the government was really cracking down on people that were actively protesting,” Gamboa who was a political science major in Venezuela said. “It came to a point where I was really becoming a target and that was endangering not only me but my family as well.”

At the time, Gamboa was part of the student movement protesting against Nicolas Maduro’s regime and worked with Venezuela’s opposition leader and now interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó.

“The political crisis has made it very difficult for Venezuelans to explore potential avenues for solutions because it’s basically illegal to go against the government, right?” Samuel Vilchez, a Venezuelan political analyst said. “A lot of people are less likely to do so because of all the repression going on so then they decide to leave the country.”

Venezuela’s downfall began after Hugo Chávez became president in 1999 and created the basis of “Chavismo”, a socialist ideology influenced by Fidel Castro of Cuba.

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