I Understand Why You Leave… But

These past few weeks I have heard more people say they are thinking of moving to another country. I deeply understand and respect that decision. What I do not accept is that they speak ill of Venezuela or of Venezuelans; that they go around saying that people here don’t fight, that people don’t want a better country, and so on. And much less will I allow them to try to frighten those of us who have decided, with deep conviction, to stay in our homeland working, investing and fighting to the very end!

I ask those who are leaving that, just as we understand you, you understand us too. That you understand and respect our decision to keep going against all odds, fighting here for a better future for everyone.

And above all, I ask that you not call us irresponsible, those of us who have decided to work and fight for our homeland, children included. Because a person who loves their country and their people is not irresponsible. Someone who has decided to raise a family here and see it through is not irresponsible; nor is someone who has invested their very “soul” in this country. That is not irresponsibility. That is courage and faith. And above all, a great deal of hope.

I want those who do not understand us to know that many of us who have decided to stay here are not even afraid of death. We know that this life is only a step toward our final homeland, which is Heaven, and that death will come when God wills it and as He wills it. Not long ago a friend, who about five years ago tried to move to Canada and came back because he couldn’t stand it, told me: “Look, we’re all going to die. Just as you can get shot, you can get cancer or be hit by a car. But I’m not leaving here, period!” That is called not being afraid of death. And we are not afraid of death because we live with integrity and honesty, before God!

As for the anxiety some try to sow in us about what will happen tomorrow, next month or next year: we are not interested! Understand that we are fighting day by day and not tormenting ourselves over what might happen in the future. Today we live and fight as if it were our last day. And what a good time we have, and how happy we are, in spite of everything! Whatever they say, whatever they do, whatever happens, we will not lose heart and we will not lose hope!

That we will have problems here? That we will go through hard times? That we are risking our lives? I think of so many of our grandparents; I think of John Paul II and of so many people who suffered in the war, of so many great figures in history who fought and triumphed. Those are the people we want to imitate, the people we think of and lean on. Those of us who have decided to stay here don’t mind having a hard time; we have been at this for a while now, and we have become something like beings made of iron. That doesn’t make us less happy; on the contrary, it makes us happier!

Because, as Valentina Quintero said: “You don’t hand over your country. Your country is yours, where you were born, it belongs to you. You can’t say: I’m leaving, and the last one out turns off the lights… We can’t say: let’s all move out of the country… There is nothing sadder than being an immigrant when you have your own country, where your loved ones are, your family, your flavors, your scents, where your dead are buried. That is your country, and that is the one we all want to have.”

I hope that those who have left, and those who are leaving, will understand us, and that instead of criticizing us (or worrying about us!) they will help us with their prayers, because those we really do need. We pray for you, too, that all goes well for you, and that someday we can all embrace one another in our beloved homeland.

Sooner rather than later we will reap the fruits of so many millions of Venezuelans who are leaving, and will keep leaving, their very skin in this wonderful country where we were born and which has given us So much! We will not leave it, because we could not live with a clear conscience! As simple as that!