- Venezuela’s national team said goodbye to the 2024 Copa América undefeated in the quarterfinals following losing on penalties to Canada. Main photo: EFE
Even before the match started, the small Venezuelan food place north of San Antonio, Texas, United States, might not fit one more person to watch the quarter-final game. between Canada and Venezuela in the Copa América, which took place on July 5.
Sitting wherever they might, on the sidewalk, the ground or on cloth chairs, dozens of Vinotinto fans watched anxiously as the players tried to snatch Canada’s spot in the Copa América semifinals.
“Here we celebrate, whether we win or lose,” said a young man on air, and, without taking their eyes off the screens, a handful of spectators laughed and nodded.
La Vinotinto ended the night eliminated on penalties, following a three-game winning streak, but its time at the Copa América momentarily forged community ties between Venezuelans who are just coming to terms with the idea of calling another country “home” and those who have been away from their land for decades.
Football helped unite Venezuelan migrants in the US
Mariana Palacios, one of the Venezuelan migrants at the club, held her granddaughter’s hand while, on the screen, the players of the Venezuelan team ran following the ball.
“We are all one family,” she said, sitting on a folding chair right in front of the bar.
Palacios crossed into the United States from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, two months ago to reunite with her daughter and brother-in-law. Watching the Vinotinto matches, surrounded by her compatriots, has helped her feel welcomed.
“It has served, especially, to open the doors of this country to us. We are all a family here,” said the Venezuelan, smiling behind her large sunglasses.
Without knowing it, Palacios embodied Morelys Díaz’s dream, which led her to open the restaurant Zulia’s Kithcen with her husband just under a year ago.
When they arrived in San Antonio eight years earlier, there was “absolutely nothing” that focused on the Venezuelan community or culture, the 39-year-old woman told the EFE news agency, dressed in the national team shirt and large earrings with the colors of the Venezuelan flag.
“I wanted to create a space for the community in the city (…) because I suffered it myself when I arrived. I had nowhere to go, I didn’t know anyone,” she explained.
In the last decade, Venezuelans have become the fastest-growing Latino nationality in the United States, according to data from the National Census Bureau of that country.
By 2021, the last year in which a general population count was conducted, more than half a million Venezuelan migrants were already living in the United States.
This number has only increased, with hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans arriving at the southern border in the last two years, added to the more than 113,000 who have entered the country with a special humanitarian permit granted by the Joe Biden administration in October 2022.
The hope for a change
The deep humanitarian crisis, together with restrictions on the movement of people in the region, has also forced Venezuelan migrants to take the dangerous land route to the United States, crossing the Darien jungle, which forms a natural border between Colombia and Panama.
This is how Javier Quintero, 29, arrived in Texas a year ago with his wife. After a few difficult first months, he managed to “stabilize” and find a steady income by making home deliveries using a mobile app.
However, the glimmer of change in Venezuela, represented for him by the opposition candidate for the presidential elections Edmundo Gonzalez and opposition leader María Corina Machado, makes him dream of packing his bags once more, this time to return.
“Although it feels good to be here with a group of Venezuelans, what I miss most is my family,” Quintero told the EFE news agency. He added that if the presidential elections on July 28 end in the defeat of President Nicolás Maduro, he would return to Venezuela without thinking twice.
“I would go back tomorrow (…) like any adult, who grows up in his country and does not want to leave,” said the tall young man with deep, dark brown eyes.
The Vinotinto’s victories on the football field
Hopes for a transition of power have been fueled for some by the team’s victories on the pitch.
It is the second time in history that the Vinotinto has sought to qualify for the Copa América semi-finals, and having come this far has brought the “feeling that anything is possible,” said 36-year-old Natalia Chávez.
“What they are doing is an inspiration for all of us here. Winning on the pitch gives us hope of winning on a political level,” said the Venezuelan, who helps her compatriots through her profession as an immigration lawyer.
Ricardo Zapata, who has worked as a systems technician in the United States for seven years, was a little more skeptical regarding the game and the political future of his country.
Standing at the entrance to the restaurant, five minutes before the match started, he scanned the crowd.
“We know it’s going to be difficult and we’re prepared for that,” he said.
After losing to Canada in a penalty shootout, La Vinotinto said goodbye to the Copa América with a view to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The Canadian team will face Argentina in the semi-final on July 9.
With information from EFE.
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2024-07-07 04:33:46
