Escaping Escalating Violence in Caracas to Make Music in Mexico City April Peavey - PRI's The World
go to original April 5, 2017

Members of the band La Vida Bohème (Nacional Records)

The headlines out of Venezuela today are all about the political power struggle there and the clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters.



But behind those headlines, other serious problems go unnoticed.

Petty crime is unreported. More violent crimes like murder and kidnapping have become commonplace.

Venezuela is now one of the most dangerous countries on Earth. But the thing is, it's been getting worse and worse for a while.

Just ask the members of the band La Vida Bohème who left Venezuela a few years back.

"Our booking agent in Venezuela had just been kidnapped and murdered," says Henry D'Arthenay, the band's lead singer. "Our manager back then had been kidnapped also, like a few months after. It just seemed to be very close to us, the fire."

...In 2014, La Vida Bohème took off for Mexico City. And that's where they recorded their latest album, "La Lucha," which means "the fight."



And even though there's violence in some parts of Mexico City, too, guitarist Daniel de Sousa says it was a place to recharge and regroup. "It was like, a way to escape from where we were living and to another place that wasn't that different from where we live in that kind of way. We speak the same language, and the culture is very similar in some way. So, living in Mexico for us has been like less difficult than another place I think."

Read the rest at PRI's The World

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