From Colombia to Venezuela and back: Leticia and her quest for a better life
Story of a Colombian returnee
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Leticia Bonivento belongs to the Wayúu people, an indigenous group that has lived for centuries in La Guajira, a desert peninsula on the Caribbean coast, along the border between Colombia and Venezuela.
Twenty years ago, Leticia lived peacefully with her husband on the Colombian side of La Guajira, but when paramilitary groups killed her brother-in-law, she quit her university studies and fled with her husband to Venezuela to start a new life.
They settled in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second largest city, where she built a family business and bought a house. Although she lost a daughter to disease while living in Venezuela, Leticia and her family lived a good life there.
But things took an unexpected turn and the family was forced to leave everything they had worked for.
Beaten but not defeated, Leticia, her husband and two children returned to the land of their ancestors — Curarí settlement, near the city of Maicao, La Guajira — to start a new life, again.
“We returned empty-handed, leaving all the fruits of our work and my late daughter behind in Venezuela,” says Leticia. “But my sister-in-law and the Curarí settlers welcomed us with hugs and tears, 20 years after they had seen us leave in pursuit of our dreams.”
To help them jump start their new life, the World Food Programme (WFP) provided temporary food assistance. WFP has done the same for newcomers in need and the community hosting them.
Life in Venezuela
After arriving in Maracaibo, Leticia and her husband had to work hard. To support their children, they began selling cheese arepas (a pre-Columbian corn cake popular in Colombia and Venezuela) and carimañolas (meat pies in a torpedo-shaped yucca fritter) on the streets. “I had never sold food before, but I had to learn,” she recalls.
And learn she did! Her street snacks business evolved into a fast food restaurant. Leticia also launched a fruit and vegetable restaurant, which later included in its menu meat and cheese, two popular foodstuffs in Venezuela.
“I was known to be the person who could sell anything, including stones, if I got the chance,” Leticia says proudly.
Then Leticia decided it was time to change her business. Her husband got a job and she received a bank loan to set up a store where she could sell different kinds of products.
Hard work and dedication helped them improve their finances. “We no longer had to sell food on the street because we had something more stable,” she explains.
Their years of sacrifice paid off. Leticia owned a large and well-stocked shop while her husband owned a brick factory and two cars. Apart from being well off economically, they were creating jobs.
Their plan was to keep working hard so they “could retire and live peacefully after guaranteeing our children’s future,” says Leticia.
A bad turn
But things took a turn for the worse and the family had to change their plans. Leticia’s store and her husband’s brick shop no longer did business, and tenants stopped paying rent. There was nothing they could do.
They packed whatever belongings they could fit in their car. “We didn’t want to be in the streets feeling sorry for ourselves. We decided to return to the settlement, to our community, my community,” Leticia explains.
It was painful to leave behind their friends and acquaintances, and especially Venezuela, a country that had generously opened its doors for them. “We left everything, but the most painful part was to leave my daughter buried there; that hurt a lot,” recalls Leticia, her eyes welling up with tears.
Many welcoming hands
Leticia and her family came to the land of their ancestors through a trail, passing the border at an illegal crossing point. They had each other and the dream of getting back on their feet again. They had hope and the desire to forge a better future for their children, and expecting the best from Colombia, their home country.
“If Venezuela smiled to us, why wouldn’t Colombia do the same? Why wouldn’t our own people give us a helping hand in the same way that Venezuelans did when we arrived in their country?,” asks Leticia.
But the journey back to their community was not an easy one. “In the end, we handed over most of what we had brought to pay the Mecateros, a paramilitary group. We met many irregular groups, and we had to pay them to get through,” Leticia says.
Fortunately, the experience at their final destination was different. “On the settlement, our family was waiting for us with open arms. I found a family full of affection for me, with open doors, with much expectation, with hope for a better life and many welcoming hands.”
Leticia participated in all community programmes and activities. She wanted to be part of her ethnic group again, to be a Wayúu, and she offered to help in whatever was needed.
“To be able to integrate again, we had to adapt to the system. If we just kept longing for what we had, we wouldn’t be happy. You have to try to smile in the face of whatever circumstances and move forward,” she stresses.
More than a year after arriving in the Wayúu territory, Leticia and her husband manage a shop and a small warehouse of motorcycle spare parts. He set up his brick business again and their kids are back in school.
The Wayúu people at the Curarí settlement have opened their arms to them and to more than 50 other families, totaling about 300 Venezuelan and Colombian migrants. There are even alijuna people, that is, people who do not belong to the Wayúu nation, but are treated as if they were members of the clan.
Leticia and her family were part of the 400.000 Colombian returnees who as of 2018 decided to head back to Colombia due to the crisis in Venezuela.
The Wayúu settlements are bearing the brunt of this mass exodus. As part of its emergency response, WFP is providing food assistance to Venezuelans, Colombian returnees and host communities to help them cope with the migrant influx.
Millions of people have left Venezuela in the past few years and more than 1 million have settled in Colombia. Of these, 90 percent do not know where their next meal is coming from.
WFP is providing emergency food assistance in Colombian departments on the borders with Venezuela and Ecuador. WFP is also assisting vulnerable migrants on the Ecuadorian side of the border.
