The Revolution 

of The XXI Century 

     March 5, 2013 was the exact moment when everything went out of

control in Venezuela. At that time, no one knew about the consequences

of  President Hugo Chavez’s death, except for his closest circle of

lakeys. Subsequently, these politicians started to address a new brand demagogy

speech and referred to the dead President Chávez as a martyr. Once again,

corrupt and misguided politicians rose to the stage  for the purpose of taking

advantage of the natural resources and finances belonging to the

country. After hundreds of bad economic decisions. This new president

injected the corruption deeper inside of each public institution and

disregarded the criminality. Venezuela entered into a humanitarian crisis,

and there was a lack of medicine, food and water. In addition, the

hyperinflation has been getting worse day by day. As a consequence

of this crisis, every day people went out to  march and protest against

Nicolas Maduro’s new government. I have supported the political cause

against him in many ways. Being defense lawyer was one of the most

important for me, when I worked in The Justice Palace in Caracas.

The government's order is still to put everybody in jail and charged

them for crimes like aggravated homicide. Then for the purpose of

giving the freedom to protesters; judges, district attorneys and private

lawyers joined efforts to struggle with the order to keep everybody

in maximum security jails. Maduro broke the balance of the justice

system. He indirectly fired judges, removed district attorneys and went

after public and private defenders to obtain their resignations in these

cases. Considering, I was one of those defense lawyers. I am a victim of

what they call The Revolution of the XXI Century.

    Emigration for me was always the last point on my list of solutions

for the crisis in my country. However,  due to the extreme danger of death

or prison, I made the most important decision in my life to leave

my country. I knew that I could not survive in jail in my country,

much less without committing  a crime, so that was my breaking

point. I had no option. The police government went after me

for a political case. They put a gun on my face and threatened

me for doing the right thing. What was that? I was defense lawyer

of a protester who was tortured. As long as I became aware

of that situation, I struggled in that political case to keep

the protester alive, because he was seriously injured. Instead

of taking him to the hospital which police government refused to do.

They kept him in jail with any medical care, so I feared his death.

Due to what happened, I preferred to bring the last option to the

first place, and I left the country.    

     Starting my life all over again, after thirty-one years. I landed

in Chicago in February 2017. My whole life was in a suitcase.

I left my family, and the place where I lived and grew up.

I remember how shocked I felt to start all over again. I looked for

a new job and a new house. I had to buy clothes for winter.

Whatever situation I faced in my country,  stayed in the past.

One of my first steps in Chicago was to enroll in a community

college because I needed to communicate with everybody

using both languages, Spanish and English. Next, I had to

find an apartment for me, cheap of course. I fact I could not afford

a bed when I arrived here, so adjusting to my budget was

my objective. I needed to be realistic and understand that

I will live alone in a different country. Beyond the basic

things, the hardest one was working in other areas, since I was

twenty years old I had worked  behind a desk, regarding that

I was totally aware that I needed to make money to pay my bills.

Therefore, do not working should not be an option; thus, I

found a job making salads in a restaurant, even though I had never

cooked before. As usual, I made jokes about fresh starts making

five hundred salads a day. 

     After two years, I think I have to find a different sight of my future.

My new perspective is to keep learning about marketing, norms,

and businesses. Speaking of learning, right now learning

English is my priority. I have to make things work here because

I could in my country and in Venezuela, it was like going against the

current for the humanitarian crisis, hyperinflation, and much more.

Why can’t I make things work here. Chicago is the third largest city

in the United States, with a solid economic bases, and a multicultural

and friendly population. I am certain that dreams can come true here.

If I fail, I'm going to try again. However, how many revolutions

does one have to live through to get up and leave their comfort zone?

What has to happen to a person to realise that everyday is a new

beginning! Well, that is the only positive result of the worst revolution

in the world.  

      The wave of Venezuelan migration is the worst in South America.

The political discontent, corruption, danger, and shortage of food,

medicine, and water have caused millions Venezuelans to emigrate

without control, and people all over the continent have been affected

in a negative way like Colombia, Curazao and Chile. I’m one of them.

I emigrated to the United States because I was looking for to be safe,

healthy and a better future.  For somebody to take over the Venezuela

dictatorship government would be a miracle for millions of people from

my country who are now living in exile. Whichever happens, I can’t

wait to share my stories with my children. I will talk about that Venezuela

is a beautiful country and also is full of young and brave people

who fought for freedom. I started to plant roots in a different country,

and I will explain to them why and how I started my life again.

Transmitting that will be my mission to make them strong

Venezuelan-Americans.