Here in Berkeley, you can meet all kinds of people — people from all over the world. I even know someone who is visiting here from Venezuela. “Yo tengo miedo,” she told me yesterday. “I am afraid.” Afraid of what? “I am afraid of all those thousands of refugees coming up here to America from Honduras!”
Yeah, but…. “They really aren’t people you should be afraid of,” I reassured her. “They are only trying to find a safe life for their children. Don’t worry about them.”
“It’s not them that I’m worried about,” she replied. “It’s America that scares me. The American militaria went down to Honduras and mercilessly broke that country apart like it was a piñata. They broke it. And then Hondurans had no choice but to scatter like ants. And now the Gringos are about to break Venezuela too.” I was starting to see her point. https://nakbatour.com/
“And if that happens, yo tengo miedo that thousands and thousands of Venezuelans will be forced to become refugees to here as well! With their babies taken away. Dying in Border Patrol prisons! Leaving my country shattered and broken just like Honduras!” https://www.npr.org/2019/02/22/696057482/trumps-venezuela-moves-follow-long-history-of-intervention-in-latin-america
What could I say? What could I do? Food always helps! So I took her up to Telegraph Avenue and bought her a burrito at Sinaloa Tacos and then we went to the movies. Saw Green Book. “Venezuela is safe.” I reassured her. “The Honduras nightmare will never happen there. Venezuelans will not allow America to use their country like a freaking piñata too. There will be no flood of refugee caravans coming up here from Venezuela.”
My friend just laughed. Laughter through tears.
