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This wasn’t the Christmas Maryla Gomez could have imagined a year ago. or the one that thousands of others Venezuelan The immigrants might have thought. But donald trump Returned to the White House in January and quickly finished his work American Dream
So Gomez found himself vacationing in northern Venezuela for the first time in eight years. She dressed, cooked, got her son a scooter and smiled for her in-laws. However, try as she might, she could not ignore the main challenges faced by returning migrants: unemployment and poverty.
“We had a modest dinner, not what we expected, but at least we had food on the table,” Gomez said of the lasagna-like dishes she shared with her partner and in-laws instead of the traditional Christmas dish of halacas made of stuffed corn dough. “It is a bit expensive to build holakas here, and since we are unemployed, we cannot afford to build them.”
Gomez, his two sons and his partner returned to the city of Maracay on October 27 after crossing the US-Mexico border. texasWhere he was immediately caught by the US Border Patrol amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. He was deported to Mexico, from where he began the dangerous journey to Venezuela.
They crossed Central America by bus, but once they reached Panama, the family could not afford to continue Colombia By boat in the Caribbean. Instead, they took the cheaper route along the shallow waters of the Pacific Ocean, sitting for several hours atop sloshing gasoline tanks in a cargo boat and then transferring to a faster boat until reaching a wooded area of Colombia. They spent about two weeks there until they could get money to reach the Venezuelan border.
Gomez was among the more than 7.7 million Venezuelans who left their country over the past decade when its economy collapsed as a result of falling oil prices, corruption and mismanagement. She lived for years in Colombia and Peru before moving to the United States with hopes of a new life.
Trump’s second term has dashed the hopes of many people like Gomez.
By September, more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, had returned to South America since Trump limited migration to the US, according to data from Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. Additionally, Venezuelans have been increasingly deported to their home country this year after President Nicolas Maduro, under pressure from the White House, ended his long-standing policy of not accepting people deported from the United States.
Immigrants routinely arrived at the airport outside the capital, Caracas, on flights operated by a U.S. government contractor or Venezuela’s state-owned airline. More than 13,000 immigrants returned on chartered flights this year.
Gómez’s return to Venezuela also gave him a chance to see his now 20-year-old daughter, whom he left behind when fleeing the country’s crippling crisis. They talked and drank beer over the holiday, knowing it would be the last time they would have a drink together for a while – Gomez’s daughter would be moving to Brazil the next month.
Gomez is looking forward to making a splash for New Year’s Eve and is also hoping for a job. But his prayers for the next year are mostly for good health.
She said, “I ask God for many things, first of all life and health, so that we can continue to enjoy our family.”
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Garcia Cano reported from Caracas.