More and More Talented People Are Saying ‘Farewell Venezuela, Hello Mexico’ Monica Campbell - PRI’s The World
go to original July 11, 2017

Eduardo Vejar García calls Mexico City home, after leaving Caracas about a year ago (Monica Campbell)

The news out of Venezuela isn’t getting any better, with no resolution in sight to help the political and economic crisis. Meantime, food and medicine can still be hard to find, and street protests are now regular. This week also saw a group of government supporters attack opposition lawmakers with wooden sticks and metal bars, while national guardsmen stood by.



So, more Venezuelans are leaving, building communities elsewhere, including in places like Mexico City.

Eduardo Vejar García, 27, now calls the megalopolis home, after leaving Caracas about a year ago. He thought he would have returned by now. “I thought the situation would be different, but I was wrong,” he says.

While he works, Vejar keeps an eye on the news, with a television tuned to VPITV, an independent news channel on YouTube. The story of the day was about a protest that led to injuries. Much like most days now.

It was Vejar’s older brother who persuaded him to move. “He asked me, ‘Eduardo, why don't you try to come here. Be stable, in Mexico,’” he says.

Vejar, who studied communications and business in Caracas, quickly found work at Ina’s, one of several Venezuelan restaurants popping up in Mexico City. It’s a slice of home, with its Venezuelan food, flags and hats and sports memorabilia hauled up from Caracas in a suitcase that sits behind the counter. There are jerseys for the baseball and soccer teams, Leones del Caracas and Caracas Fútbol Club.

He also points to a favorite hat, featuring the Venezuelan flag — his flag, he says.



It has seven stars, not eight like on Venezuela’s current national flag. In 2006, then-President Hugo Chávez added the extra star to honor Simón Bolívar, who liberated Venezuela and much of South America from Spain.

Read the rest at PRI’s The World

Related: Venezuelan Opposition Supporters Mark 100 Days of Protests (Al Jazeera)

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