We (Venezuelans) did not invent migration, nor the fact of migrating to a lot of countries. This phenomenon has accompanied humanity since time immemorial. It is an act as human as breathing.... However, the example that made me decide to write these words I saw in the tearful eyes of a child, who, together with his mother who was desperately trying to console him, aroused in me the most sincere and genuine empathy. In addition, it touches a very sensitive nerve in me; which in turn is linked to a reality that, although it may seem obvious, (the Venezuelan diaspora on the Planet), even at times seems to be part of a "game".... And it is certainly not...
"FC VENEZUELA" is the way I decided to call this feeling/emotion/ I don't know what to call it, which unites people all over the world who don't know each other (nor pretend to) but who only need a special occasion (like a Copa America in the USA) or something similar to recognise each other and unite with a simple look. And this is so powerful that it transcends borders. Football united a country, and especially a people who have been beaten for decades by we all know who? And that as a result of that has had to pay the highest price: forced exile, or resist one more day. Yes, like in The Walking Dead but without zombies...
Whether this reality of being divided and dispersed everywhere, in other places, I don't know, but in Venezuela, people are not usually so united. Undoubtedly, something broke from 2015 onwards.... And that year is key, because it was there that the mass flight began.... There are preconceptions and value judgements on both sides (from those outside, and from those of us who still live here, on this soil). I have always tried to stay out of it. Although, it is simply impossible not to have an opinion... And for you to understand, more than 7 million compatriots have had to leave the country... So, all of us know at least one migrant.
A feeling of orphanhood should be enough to unite us and make us one voice, shouldn't it? Unfortunately, we are not even close to that... But one thing that football has achieved, specifically the men's national team, which until yesterday kept us in suspense and glued inches away from a TV, radio or computer, is the feeling of hope... An optimism that reminds us of how it felt to have a full table at Christmas, or on special occasions. Where sending a WhatsApp message to your friends was something conventional and not a nostalgic memory in a marked division, of people and memories that now only exist in our thoughts, no longer in reality...
Venezuela, "country of farewells". You won't believe it, but there is a video on YouTube with this title, and when we all saw it in Venezuela, it was the object of cruel mockery, memes and a collective disillusionment that today marks our pride as a country, as a culture and as guilty by action or omission of what broke us into hundreds of billions scattered everywhere. I am not trying to point the finger of blame, nor to point accusingly at anything or anyone, but self-criticism will always exist in my thoughts. For these reasons, hearing the notes of the national anthem in Arlington, Texas, USA, last night was so moving that it brought tears of honour and pride to our eyes.....
Feelings that we do not always feel, and even less so with the symbols, the colours and what identifies us as members of the same country, of the same culture and that not very deep inside all of us, what we do miss but say little about, is to have those who have gone one more day with us, and sharing in the same time-space, and not through the screen of a tablet or a mobile phone.... Football is the excuse. The good results of the Venezuelan national team united people who had not known what that concept meant for decades. We were all brothers, friends, all proud and happy; all hopeful and united. That is the teaching behind the context.
