“Don’t Leave”
When I wrote my article “I Understand Why You Leave… But,” I never imagined I would receive so many emails about those lines, or for so long.
As I write this article, I am still receiving messages from Venezuelans who have left and who express their unconditional support for those of us who are here. I have also received hundreds of emails from Venezuelans in Venezuela who are determined to stay to the end. Many of those lines have made me cry, and have made my hope and my love for this country grow even more.
A young woman wrote to me that, although her family has encouraged her to leave Venezuela so she can “succeed” abroad, she tells them she is not interested in “succeeding” in a country where her loved ones and friends are not. She is not leaving!
A Cuban woman wrote to me, and her words shook me to the core. Here is part of what she said:
“I do not have the pleasure of knowing you, but your piece reached me through a dear friend. I read it with emotion, to the point of tears. I was born in Cuba and left fifty-two years ago. I spent half a century saying I would not go back until there was change there. Last year, because I wanted to go on my own two feet and not in a wheelchair, I decided to travel there, and I found a country that gets around in horsedrawn carts, with very few buses and battered taxis without windows, windshields and so on. I have lived my exile of more than half a century in three countries, but I feel that in Venezuela I have put down roots. I am one of those who advise: ‘Don’t leave.’ Defend your wonderful country tooth and nail. A quarter of my country’s population left; perhaps we were frightened by the daily executions of 1959 and 1960. Boys of nineteen and twenty were taken to the firing wall at La Cabaña Fortress and shot without trial, in a matter of hours. But as the saying goes, ‘Build a silver bridge for a fleeing enemy,’ and we left the way clear. I will never tire of saying: ‘Don’t leave.’ Don’t make the same mistake. Fight, make it hard for them, struggle. This homeland belongs to each of the millions who were born there, not to a few. Shout it, and let them hear it…
“You don’t know how much I admire you for your decision to stay in the country. It takes a great deal of courage. I left very young, with my parents and my only sister, but I have always said I take my hat off to those who stayed in Cuba. We have suffered the daily homesickness of distance, but they have suffered hunger, threats, beatings and, for some, prison. After living many years in Madrid and New York, I have been here for more than three decades with my husband, and I do not want to leave. I often remember the words of our apostle José Martí when he said: ‘Give me a Venezuela in which to serve her…’ and I think that I will go through with all of you whatever must be gone through. With all my affection and admiration, I say with you: Long live Venezuela!”
To several young people who left and wrote to tell me how hard that decision was, I said that leaving is not easy at all, and neither is staying! What does impress me deeply is that there are so many Venezuelans, in every corner of the planet, who are keeping such close watch over us. It is also impressive to see so many young people abroad getting an education with the dream of coming back later to help rebuild the country.
We have lived through very hard times, and perhaps we will live through worse ones, but I am convinced this will pass, because there are many of us here giving our very souls to build a better future for everyone. Because, as my Cuban “sister” says, this homeland belongs to each of the millions of us who were born here, not to a few. And we will shout, and we will fight, to defend the country that has given us so much and that we love passionately!
Someday ALL of us (those abroad, those here, those on one side and those on the other) will be able to embrace one another in a great celebration of Peace and reconciliation, where we will give infinite thanks to God for all we have learned and how much we have grown in these years, and because Justice and Peace will at last shine in every corner of our beloved Venezuela.
And then the rebuilding will come, and we will work day and night without rest. Will it be hard? Yes, it will. But we are not afraid! Because God is with us.
I am convinced that day will come and that I will see it with my own eyes. So for my part, I will listen to my Cuban “sister”: I will not leave, and I will shout loud and clear that Venezuela belongs to everyone! I will also keep praying, more intensely than ever, and working without rest, squeezing myself dry like a lemon, together with the millions of Venezuelans who are here doing the same, so that things get better.