experts advise how to face the challenges of repatriation to Venezuela

Ángel, a 32 -year -old Venezuelan engineer emigrated from his country in 2016 for considering it “destroyed”, with a lot of crime and long lines in markets and gas stations to buy basic products or fill the tank. Months ago, he decided to work and live in «a Venezuela that is no longer the same as one leaves.»

The young man, who preferred not to give his real name for fear of reprisals, admitted to having been surprised when he repatriated last August, just days after violent street protests and political tensions for the disputed presidential elections.

“Everything before was in crisis. Now supermarkets are supplied. One does not believe it. I feel that there is more calm here than in Santiago de Chile, ”he told Voice of Americanoting that now lives «with a feeling of peace» that was not abroad.

It is estimated that 7.8 million Venezuelans have emigrated During the governments of Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) and Nicolás Maduro (2013-current) essentially for political and economic reasons, according to the R4V assistance platform.

While there are no precise figures about how many of them have returned, the Government of Nicolás Maduro said in mid -2024 that at least one million Venezuelans have definitely returned to their country through their plan «Tour of the Homeland.»

There are Venezuelans as an angel who do it by their own means.

«I wanted to be close to my family,» said the native of Maracaibo, in the west of the country, who settled in Caracas, where he now works in an oil firm, to live near his parents. The young man returned with his partner, which he met in Chile.

A more difficult decision to emigrate

«Returning to Venezuela is more difficult than the decision to emigrate,» says the political scientist, a university professor and a researcher on migration, María Alexandra Semprún.

«People migrate to dream of something better than what they have», chasing «the American dream» in the United States or «Chilean prosperity», more when there is a deterioration in the quality of life and social pressure of family and friends They have already emigrated, he points out.

“But returning implies many times a recognition before yourself and before others that your dreams were not fulfilled. It is a perception of failure, ”he told the Voice of America Semprún, who also has anthropology studies.

Readaptation impact

Angel for his part warned that he felt «like a migrant» in his own country for a couple of months when he saw him «so different.» Therefore, he advises those who want to repatriate that «study well what country they will come» and have «an economic plan.»

The Venezuelans who return, indistinctly of the time of their departure, experience an «impact» of rehabilitation to the «country that each one has in the imagination, which was once theirs,» explained the clinical and social psychologist Yorelis Acosta.

«There are great challenges of reintegration, to look for work again, to make the social, family and professionals that you perhaps lost again,» he told the Voa The doctor, who is also research coordinator at the Center for Development Studies of the Central University of Venezuela (CENDES).

The Venezuelan who is repatriated can load within himself «a history of pain and psychological problems» when he decided to emigrate from his country, according to the specialist.

When the migrant starts abroad, he does it after «physical and emotional wear» that frequently derives in a «migratory duel», now far from families and their social spaces, also exposed to exhaustion and depressions, precise.

There, outside of Venezuela, the migrant lives «a second impact of overwriting» to adjust their expectations of quality of life to the reality with which he runs abroad.

In addition, it can cross xenophobia situations and «clashes of cultures,» he said.

Then, when returning to Venezuela, the repatriated today is with «a very dynamic country», different from the one that left long ago, but where «people» are missing and even «changes the visual» of its cities, with businesses that do not exist and others opened, according to Acosta.

Fundamental family circle

Readaptation also does not depend exclusively on the emigrant. His family and friends are also determinants.

«There is the issue of reception and belonging, even the fear of openly expressing about why you return,» warns Dr. Acosta. A advice for those close to repatriate? «Do not judge», but to receive it with kindness and support, he advised.

“The stories are complex, people have the right to leave. The one who was outside helped who is here ”, by frequent sending of remittances, he stressed.

Acosta said that Venezuelans who have remained in their country have developed «psychological competitions» that have made them «stronger» and that they can favor the task of kindly and with understanding those who return after emigrating.

In his opinion, the Venezuelan must be «happy to receive that part of our history that had gone» abroad.

Personal exam is fundamental

Semprún, an expert in political and professor sociology at Rafael Urdaneta University in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, said he had identified a kind of «competition» between the notions that «Venezuela was arranged» and the speech of a part of the international press of the international press of that the country is in «terrible» conditions.

«From afar, Venezuela looks worse than it is,» he said to the Voa.

Safe would recommend to those who return to Venezuela, either definitively or provisionally, to perform a personal exam to compare «how it was when it left and how it is now that it returned.»

Also read: The millionaire humanitarian fund for Venezuela agreed two years ago never saw the light

The repatriated should weigh what he learned in his stay abroad, both technical, educational and experiential, he said. “Were you veterinarian and now you know for construction? Didn’t you speak English and now? ”He invited them to wonder, also rescuing how he learned to live without the support of family and friends.

Returning to Venezuela does not mean closing the door to emigrate again, Angel warns, meanwhile. Another of your advice is to have updated migratory requirements and documents to be able to mobilize outside the country in case they decide.

His desire is not to leave, but stay to form his own family in a nation that «can still improve.»

«It’s my country, I don’t feel like a stranger here.»

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