Betty Nava went back to bed after hearing the news that Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been captured by the U.S. She said she was having a panic attack. She couldn’t stand the possibility of being disillusioned by her country once more.
“I thought Maduro would be free in a few hours, that Maduro would return,“ Nava said in Spanish. She is still not ready to celebrate, she said, because it’s hard to believe things in her country will change in the near future.
Nava, her husband and her two sons have lived in Austin since 2021. She said her family had to flee Venezuela because of political persecution after they protested against Maduro’s government. She was fired from her job at a public university a month before her retirement date, her husband received threats from government employees, and she received anonymous phone calls detailing the whereabouts of her college-aged sons.
Her family fled to Peru in 2018 before a visit to Austin in 2021 under a tourist visa. When that trip ended, they stayed in the U.S. and filed for asylum. While waiting for a response, the Biden administration announced Venezuelans could apply for Temporary Protected Status. But the Trump administration ended the program last year.
Now, the federal government wants her family and roughly 600,000 Venezuelans to go back to their home country. After the detention of Maduro, some federal officials said Venezuelans in the U.S. formerly under TPS could go home to a peaceful country.
But Nava and many other Venezuelans say it is not that easy.
Some Venezuelans hoped that the whole Maduro cabinet would be removed, but the country's vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in as interim president this week. That has made many Venezuelans question if things will actually change.
Leany, a Venezuelan lawyer in Austin, said as long as people from Maduro’s cabinet are in power, Venezuelans in exile are not safe to go back. KUT is only using Leany’s first name because she still has family in Venezuela and fears retaliation.
“Even if they insist that things in Venezuela are OK now, we know that’s not the case,” she said in Spanish. “When the transition moves forward and things become clear, it’s still going to take a while before we know what is happening or what reassurance we’ll have of not being persecuted.”
Leany worked as a judge in Venezuela and said all institutions there have become corrupt over the last two decades. She said federal, state and local reforms need to take place before Venezuelans living abroad can return.
As of now, she can’t communicate with people inside the country regarding what is happening. Her friends and family members who oppose Maduro’s government are afraid of voicing their opinions, even through text.
“There’s still a lot to do for Venezuela to be free.” Leany said. "Once we get to see people inside [the country] celebrating and political prisoners are freed, then that’s when Venezuela will be free.”
Nava also fears for some of her family members inside the country; she tells them to delete any texts that show they are against Maduro. But she knows even if she was able to go back to Venezuela, it would not be the same. Her family was divided by politics. Some of her siblings in Venezuela agree with Maduro’s government, while others do not.
“Sometimes I ask them why they continue supporting the actions and the group of people that destroyed our future and who tore us apart,” Nava said. She never gets clear answers. Even so, she sends them money when she can.
Since Maduro was captured, Venezuelans in the U.S. have also received mixed messaging regarding immigration.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Venezuelans under TPS can now apply to become refugees, but the department later refuted the statement in a social media post.
Either way, Leany said it is unclear how Venezuelans in the U.S. could apply to become refugees, since people have to be outside the country to do so.
Families like Nava’s continue waiting for asylum or any other form of protection.
She said she would rather leave the U.S. than be in the country without legal status. As much as she loves Austin, Nava said, if she were to be left without legal status, she would consider moving to a fourth country.
She said dealing with immigration paperwork and adapting to another country is not easy.
“I aspire to be at ease until I can go back to my country," she said. "Because nobody leaves the place where they’re happy, and I was very happy in Venezuela.”
