BOGOTÁ — A foul smell of sewage permeated the overcrowded prison cell. Rays of light came through under the door. Screams and cries emanated from the cells and reverberated around the prison. “It was constant torture,” says former political prisoner Víctor Navarro, 27, of his time in Venezuela’s largest torture center, El Helicoide. Now, he’s the founder and director of Voices of Memory, an NGO that created a virtual reality museum of this notorious prison. Víctor Navarro, the founder and director of Voices of Memory, speaks about his virtual reality experience of El Helicoide and his ow ..read more

As a teen, Fabio Alexei Roselló Salazar dreamed of traveling the world. So when Roselló — the son of a school teacher and a cable company manager — went off to college, he decided to study the maritime trade hoping it would help him make that dream come true. But when a history of participating in anti-government protests met growing economic and social problems in Venezuela, Roselló decided to leave his home to ensure a better future for his family. In 2017, he took his maritime skills across the Atlantic to Ireland.  Now, during his on-call shifts at Ireland’s only oil refinery, Rosell ..read more

WESTON, Fla.—Back in October, Adelys Ferro remembers attending a rally held by then-candidate Joe Biden at Florida International University holding a sign that read “Obamacare Saved My Son.” A picture of her at the rally went viral and was shared by both Biden and former President Barack Obama on Instagram. A native of Caracas, Venezuela who has lived in the United States for 15 years, Ferro felt strongly about her support for Biden because of a health crisis her son Arturo had gone through years earlier. “It felt nice to be part of something historic,” she said. “Arturo got sick in December f ..read more

The story of Antonia Turbay’s arrest goes back to April 2002. She lived in La Florida, in Caracas, Venezuela. Her neighbor was Iván Simonovis, the then secretary of the police corps Citizen Security in Caracas. A military coup had forced former President Hugo Chavez to resign, sparking nationwide protests. On April 11, the riots got out of control and 19 people died due to police brutality. When Chavez got back to power, he blamed Simonovis for the violence, though it was never proven he ordered officers to shoot. Simonovis was detained in 2004 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. After servin ..read more

CARACAS— Authorities are clamping down on journalists informing the public about the coronavirus pandemic. Press freedom in Venezuela was already threatened, and as the public health crisis progresses, the government has punished calls for transparency. Since social distancing measure began on March 16, state security agencies controlled by President Nicolás Maduro have detained 18 journalists and 34 press workers have suffered different forms of attacks. Radio hosts Jesús Enrique Torres and Jesús Manuel Castillo were arrested in Los Teques, Venezuela on March 13 after publishing a video on Fa ..read more

BOGOTÁ— Anni Rojas Jiménez first heard about the coronavirus when she was traveling with her husband and brother-in-law from Lima, Peru to Bogotá, Colombia. Rojas Jiménez, who was four months pregnant at the time, made the trip on foot, and with the occasional ride from a passing truck. It had been a long journey. They left Venezuela last July. Entering at the Colombian border town of Cúcuta, they walked to the capital of Bogotá, where they live for a month before moving to Peru in September. Then her husband lost his job and Peru started deporting Venezuelan migrants. They returned to Bogot ..read more

NEW YORK — José arrived in New York in July after only two months of planning his move. He is one of the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who recently escaped the country’s political and economic chaos to start a new life in the United States. Despite earning a medical degree last year from the Central University of Venezuela, he works as a server at a Venezuelan restaurant in Manhattan – his third job since his arrival. He asked that we only use his first name. The Venezuelans who have migrated to New York in recent years have more financial resources and opportunities than the Venezuelan ..read more