Fleeing a broken Venezuela

The police helped her get her car back but then threatened her with violence if she didn’t pay them a large sum of money. A few days later, the thieves returned, on motorcycles. This time, they were armed. A brave neighbour saved the Delgados by convincing the robbers that the family no longer lived there. Delgado, 26, spoke to IRIN a few days before she and her two children were due to fly to Chile to begin a new life. “The most difficult challenge will be to leave my parents,” she said, as her seven-year-old daughter, Sofia, played on the floor between half-packed suitcases. Delgado explained how the little girl had been asking her how they could leave her grandparents when there was nothing to eat and the robbers might return. “I don’t always know what to answer her,” she sighed. More…