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© Reuters. Anibal Pirela is preparing to reunite with his wife and daughter in the United States before emigrating with his four-year-old son to his home in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on November 30, 2021. REUTERS / Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
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By Mariela Nava
MARACAIBO, Venezuela (Reuters) – Accountant Anibal Pirela needed a six-day trip and $ 7,000 to get to Austin, Texas from Maracaibo, a former Venezuelan oil capital in the western state of Zulia.
Pirela traveled with four-year-old Daniel, joining the flood of emigrants who are emptying the neighborhoods of Zulia, the main starting point for Venezuelans leaving their homeland in crisis.
“The people I know who have left the country are almost too many to count,” Pirela, 48, said of his new home in Austin.
The number of Venezuelans arrested by U.S. authorities on the southern border rose to 47,762 in September, up from 1,262 in the previous year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Hundreds of people are leaving every month, according to protest groups, despite the lack of official migration data from 23 Venezuelan states.
Historically, the state has been more isolated from economic difficulties because of the oil industry, but this has been punished by the US, which is targeted by the OPEC member, by cutting off much-needed revenue.
Reuters has spoken to eight families who have fled Zulia in the past two months for lack of public service, medicine and jobs.
Abandoned houses and buildings are becoming more common in Maracaibo, with a population of 1.7 million, according to current and former residents.
In 2018, half of Zulia’s households already had at least one relative living abroad, but since 2019 that number has risen to 70%, according to the Zulia Human Rights Commission (CODHEZ), a non-governmental organization.
“There are few neighborhoods left,” said Juan Berrios, CODHEZ’s chief coordinator.
ENERGY CUTTING, WATER SHORTAGE
Zulia, at the end of the national water and electricity transmission lines, suffers more disruptions than other parts of Venezuela.
The collapse of Venezuela’s oil industry – partly due to recent US sanctions – https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-venezuela-sanctions-idUKKCN1B521E it has led to high unemployment. Some analysts say sanctions have increased https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-sanctions/un-envoy-urges-us-to-relax-venezuela-sanctions-drawing-opposition-rebuke-idUSKBN2AC2HD country crisis economic increase.
Those with jobs also pay so badly that living costs are prohibitive, especially for imported or smuggled food.
Carmen Ortega, 74, cares for her eight grandchildren with what she earns as a street cleaner.
“We are in extreme poverty,” Ortega said in his earth-filled house, built of latex. “We have two girls begging on the street. They bring some bread; people give them flour.”
The children’s mother is unemployed and the father has gone to Colombia. Ortega said the family should start the day without food and coffee.
“I cry at night,” she said.
The minimum wage in Venezuela is the equivalent of $ 3. Inflation rose to 631% from January to November, according to the central bank.
About 850 people a week crossed into Colombia from Zulia before the coronavirus pandemic, and about half returned after purchasing medical supplies or other goods, according to Juan Restrepo, president of the region’s largest transportation union.
About 2,000 people go there every week, Restrepo said, with only 30% returning.
The United States is the ultimate destination for many.
Under pressure from Washington to stop the rise of Venezuelans entering the United States illegally from the southern border, Mexico announced last week that it would impose visa requirements https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-impose-visa-requirements -venezuelans-2021 -12-17 to enter the country, although it is not clear when the measure will be introduced.
LONG ROAD NORTH
Residents of the Altos de Milagro Norte neighborhood of Maracaibo say the food shortage is constant and that the collapse of their city is also affecting their graves.
Jose Amaya’s family dug a hole in the outside yard to bury his brother.
“The funeral home will do everything for $ 170, but we don’t have the resources,” he said.
The community had a population of 2,200 before the pandemic, but only 1,500 remain, social worker Maria Carolina Leal said.
To take his family to Austin, Pirela sold his car and took away his pension benefits. It was enough to send his 31-year-old wife Daniela Mendoza and 12-year-old daughter Paula by plane from Colombia.
He then sold the appliances and took out all the savings for himself and Daniel for a few flights north to Monterrey, Mexico.
A smuggler, carrying $ 4,400, took another 30 Venezuelan migrants to a small building, about a third of them in Maracaibo, Pirela said.
The next morning, the group was taken seven hours north to the border, walking for about fifteen minutes across the Rio Bravo and into the United States.
They were met by migration officials and the next day they enrolled in a Department of Homeland Security security program that allows migrants to be released with an ankle monitor, handing in their passports and handing out fingerprints.
Pirela has so far had a check-in appointment with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the former saying it could be a lengthy process to legalize his status. She has her next appointment in February.
“Now I’m with my family, the reunion was beautiful,” Pirela said, adding that what she wants most is a work permit.
“I have to wait because I want to do things right.”
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