Midlands asylum seekers feel their hearts torn as post-election turmoil continues in Venezuela (2024)

It was March 17, 2019, and Brenda Sanchez was home with her youngest daughter, 17-year-old Maria Esperanza, in a small apartment complex in Maturín, Venezuela. Waiting for her husband, Miguel Veliz Weky, to return home from work, Sanchez busied herself with household activities.

Then, an unexpected visit. A prosecutor and eight armed guards showed up at her residence, accusing her of stealing cellphones.

Sanchez couldn’t decide which officer to follow as she demanded answers for their abrupt entry and groundless accusations. They rummaged through each room, breaking everything in their path. She felt her heart shatter when they ripped out her box of Christmas decorations from atop her closet, kicking and throwing it around.

“If this is over a cellphone, I was fearful they would plant drugs,” Sanchez said in an interview done in Spanish, translated by The Post and Courier. “Why would I put a cellphone in a box that I only open once a year?”

The guards took her husband’s computers, electronics and paperwork. Sanchez and Veliz Weky were imprisoned for a week and released on a promise of silence.

Veliz Weky was vocal about his discontent with the current administration under Nicolas Maduro. He was a candidate for mayor and national assembly in the previous years, however, those campaigns were unsuccessful because of the pattern of unfair elections since Maduro came into office.

In Venezuela

Venezuela had an election on July 28 to replace Maduro’s decade-long reign. The July election proved hopeful to many Venezuelans, but Maduro and his ally-led National Electoral Council contested the election, claiming his victory.

Protests have erupted in recent weeks with countries, including the U.S., recognizing opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner.

Maduro’s administration has overseen shortages in public goods and a plunging Venezuelan economy. He has maintained power by silencing opposition and mitigating fair elections. His reelection in 2018 was widely dismissed and not considered fair. Though protests erupted after that election as well, they were quieted through police-backed violence and threats of imprisonment.

“They make up crimes that you don’t commit,” Veliz Weky said. “They don’t just jail you for speaking out anymore. They don’t arrest you for political crimes, they arrest you for everyday crimes.”

The government stacks up false charges against anyone who opposes the government to justify their abuse, Veliz Weky added.

Escaping violence

Sanchez left Venezuela in September 2021 after months of harassment by the government. She traveled to Colombia before flying out to Columbia where she has been ever since.

Veliz Weky left a few months later.

They both have temporary protected status — a temporary immigration status given to individuals who may not be able to return to their countries of origin based on extraordinary circ*mstances and handled on a case-by-case basis — and are still waiting for the government to decide if they’ll receive political asylum.

They didn’t plan to leave Venezuela, but the couple felt they had no other choice.

Their three children remained in Venezuela to finish their studies until July when their youngest daughter came to the U.S. with parole — a program where the U.S. grants case-by-case travel authorization for urgent humanitarian reasons. Their two other children — Pedro Miguel, 23, and Maria Victoria, 22 — have also been granted parole but have yet to arrive. They are disappointed with the state of Venezuela and feeling as if their country stole their future.

The U.S. is different for the couple, with Veliz Weky noting his freedoms in being able to speak and act freely. The couple’s anguish has only increased due to their family remaining in their home country. Crackdowns on protesters have worsened with the Venezuelan government renouncing apps like WhatsApp and X, formerly Twitter.

“Our bodies are here, but our thoughts and hearts are in Venezuela,” Sanchez said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on August 13 to correct the name spelling of Brenda Sanchez.