Vámonos a short story by Sherezade García Rangel

In September 2020, the United Nations published a report requesting the Venezuelan government to be held accountable for multiple crimes against humanity (OHCHR, 2020). Around 4.5 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants have been displaced in the decades-long, socio-political and economic crisis that haunts the nation; it is the region’s largest exodus in recent history. (UNHCR, 2019). According to the UNHCR, in the past six years, there has been an 8,000 per cent increase in Venezuelans seeking refugee status worldwide (UNHCR, 2019). Once a centre for European and Latin American immigration, Venezuela has become inhospitable in the extended and pervasive humanitarian crisis that has mobilised a nation not used to emigrating. As a Venezuelan migrant and writer, I explored what it means to cross borders for Venezuelans in Ni Allá Ni Acá (Gutter, 2020; Borders and Crossings, 2019). In Vámonos, I examine new ramifications of this displacement for those who left, are leaving and had to stay in Venezuela. This original work is a blend of fiction and nonfiction, personal and impersonal, place and displacement. This piece examines the tensions between staying and going, between home and its void, as an expansion of the physical and emotional, the ideological and political which weave the narrative borders that enact this massive movement of Venezuelans, permeating into the refugees’ and migrants’ welcome in the host countries. My use of the short story aims to highlight the cultural, familial and emotional erosion of a nation beyond click-bait headlines and soundbites of detached politicians. What does it mean to be a Venezuelan migrant or refugee? How have the concepts of home and place changed for Venezuelans through experiencing diaspora? I will read the short story and let it stand on its own without further explanation – creative practice: an attempt to hold all.

This short story was published as a performance in the Transnational Literature Journal in October 2021 in the section 'New Voices to Watch'.

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