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# What Can be Worse than Becoming an Exile? Dying in Exile.
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Today we were woken up by one of those calls we hope we never get. One of my wife’s cousins was calling her, but her phone was still off (call it *pandemia* effect). It was 7:40 and my wife was still debating whether she should get up or not. I usually get up before her. Her cousin knows that, so she called me. She asked about my wife’s mother (she has not been very well lately). I figured a bad news was coming and she wanted to make sure the old lady was in good shape to get it.
Hoy nos despertó una de esas llamadas que esperamos no recibir nunca. Una de las primas de mi esposa la estaba llamando, pero su teléfono todavía estaba apagado (llámenlo efecto pandemia). Eran las 7:40 am y mi esposa todavía estaba debatiendo si debía levantarse o no. Normalmente me levanto antes que ella. Su prima lo sabe, así que me llamó. Preguntó por la madre de mi esposa (últimamente no se ha sentido muy bien). Supuse que vendría una mala noticia y quería asegurarse de que la señora estuviera en condiciones para recibirla.
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It was one of my wife’s cousins. He had been living in Colombia for some years now; forced to leave with his wife, leaves a small boy orphan. We thought he had become another Covid-19 victim; but he was not. He died during some heart-related surgery; suffered a heart attack. He was 36 years old. He was loved by his family; a nice looking guy, childish smile, very smart; a naval engineer who used to work for our main oil company, PDVSA, married to a doctor (a successful couple by our standards) and yet, they felt they had no future here and moved to Colombia.
Se trataba de uno de los primos de mi esposa. Llevaba algunos años viviendo en Colombia; obligado a irse con su esposa, deja huérfano a un niño pequeño. Pensamos que se había convertido en otra víctima de Covid-19; pero no. Murió durante una cirugía relacionada con el corazón; sufrió un infarto durante la intervención, según nos informaron. Tenía 36 años. Su familia lo amaba; un chico guapo, sonrisa infantil, muy inteligente; un ingeniero naval que solía trabajar para nuestra principal compañía petrolera, PDVSA, casado con una doctora (una pareja exitosa para nuestros estándares) y, sin embargo, sintieron que no tenían futuro aquí y se mudaron a Colombia.
<img src="https://steemitimages.com/1500x871/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUzYupyiqXfdHSGw7s6BBoVB15GL9ZvhUPnWoaEveXTiQ/Power%20House%20Creatives%20Logos%20FINAL.png" alt="Power House Creatives Logos FINAL.png" /><br/>
We were in shock. I had been his English teacher many years ago when one branch of that company hired me to teach English to their engineers. He was a gentleman, always nice, rather shy. We debated for a minute whether it would be ok to tell my wife’s mother; apparently she was very close to him when he was little and in her current health condition a news like this would be a hard blow for her.
Estábamos en shock. Yo había sido su profesor de inglés hace muchos años cuando una sucursal de esa empresa me contrató para enseñar inglés a sus ingenieros. Era un caballero, siempre simpático, bastante tímido. Debatimos por un minuto si estaría bien decírselo mi suegra; al parecer ella era muy unida a él cuando era pequeño y en su actual estado de salud una noticia como esta sería un duro golpe para ella.
<img src="https://steemitimages.com/1500x871/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUzYupyiqXfdHSGw7s6BBoVB15GL9ZvhUPnWoaEveXTiQ/Power%20House%20Creatives%20Logos%20FINAL.png" alt="Power House Creatives Logos FINAL.png" /><br/>
We had not finished thinking what we’d do when we heard howls from the living room. Another cousin of my wife, the deceased’s aunt, who lives around the corner, arrived and gave the news to my mother-in-law without anesthesia, as we say in Spanish. It was very painful moment to see these women cry out loud, forgetting the virus, and the fact that they had been a bit distant lately. The death of a common relative made them forget differences and embrace again.
No habíamos terminado de pensar en lo que haríamos cuando escuchamos un llanto desgarrador desde la sala. Era otra prima de mi esposa, la tía del fallecido, que vive a la vuelta de la esquina y le dio la noticia a mi suegra, sin anestesia. Fue un momento muy doloroso ver a estas mujeres llorar en voz alta, olvidando el virus y el hecho de que últimamente habían estado un poco distantes. La muerte de un familiar común les hizo olvidar las diferencias y volver a abrazarse.
<img src="https://steemitimages.com/1500x871/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUzYupyiqXfdHSGw7s6BBoVB15GL9ZvhUPnWoaEveXTiQ/Power%20House%20Creatives%20Logos%20FINAL.png" alt="Power House Creatives Logos FINAL.png" /><br/>
Out of my wife’s cousin’s desperate grieving rambling one thing stroke me as painfully inaccurate and unjust. She lamented that her nephew had left the country, she wondered why he did that; why he left his family behind and put so much distance between them. Now in this moment of grief and desperation they could not even say good bye.
De las divagaciones desesperadas de la prima de mi esposa, una cosa me golpeó como dolorosamente inexacta e injusta. Ella lamentaba que su sobrino se hubiera ido del país, se preguntaba por qué lohabía hecho; por qué dejó atrás a su familia y puso tanta distancia entre ellos. Ahora, en este momento de dolor y desesperación, ni siquiera podían decir adiós.
<img src="https://steemitimages.com/1500x871/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUzYupyiqXfdHSGw7s6BBoVB15GL9ZvhUPnWoaEveXTiQ/Power%20House%20Creatives%20Logos%20FINAL.png" alt="Power House Creatives Logos FINAL.png" /><br/>
She was almost angry and truly convinced that this young man and his wife had no reason for having left Venezuela. Her rambling saddened me even more than the death of my wife’s cousin. Of course they had reasons to leave. They were professionals in very important areas and were living under poverty line. They had struggled in colleges to get diplomas that would guarantee them a decent living and an income stable enough to make a family and provide their children with their basic needs and more. None of that became possible after a while. They had not been respected as professionals and their jobs were contingent to ideological fidelity. They foresaw the decline of our economy, the job market and our standards of living in general.
Ella estaba casi enojada y realmente convencida de que este joven y su esposa no tenían ninguna razón para haber salido de Venezuela ("es preferible pasar vaina pero con la familia", dicen algunos). Su lamento me entristeció aún más que la muerte del primo de mi esposa. Por supuesto que tenían motivos para marcharse. Eran profesionales en áreas muy importantes y vivían por debajo del índice de pobreza. Habían luchado en las universidades para obtener diplomas que les garantizaran una vida digna y un ingreso lo suficientemente estable para formar una familia y proporcionar a sus hijos sus necesidades básicas y más. Nada de eso fue posible después de un tiempo. No los respetaban como profesionales y su trabajo dependía de la fidelidad ideológica. Ellos anticiparon la ruina de nuestra economía, el mercado laboral y nuestro nivel de vida en general.
<img src="https://steemitimages.com/1500x871/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUzYupyiqXfdHSGw7s6BBoVB15GL9ZvhUPnWoaEveXTiQ/Power%20House%20Creatives%20Logos%20FINAL.png" alt="Power House Creatives Logos FINAL.png" /><br/>
This young man had here what used to be a dream job: to work for one of the most important oil companies in the world. PDVSA was that and any Venezuelan working for that company had their future and that of their families assured. However, the destruction that we have gone through has been of such magnitude that even years ago, when I was teaching English to these young engineers, they were already complaining about the kind of money they were making and the instability of the job (and they were making 10 times more than college professors). They could not afford a house or apartment anymore and the company was being run by militaries as if it were an extension of the government’s political party.
Este joven tenía aquí lo que solía ser un trabajo de ensueño: trabajar para una de las petroleras más importantes del mundo. PDVSA era eso y cualquier venezolano que trabajara para esa empresa tenía asegurado su futuro y el de sus familias. Sin embargo, la destrucción por la que hemos pasado ha sido de tal magnitud que incluso hace años, cuando les estaba enseñando inglés a estos jóvenes ingenieros, ya se estaban quejando de la cantidad de dinero que ganaban y de la inestabilidad del trabajo (y ganaban 10 veces más que los profesores universitarios). Ya no podían pagar una casa o un apartamento y la empresa estaba dirigida por militares como si fuera una extensión del partido político del gobierno.
<img src="https://steemitimages.com/1500x871/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUzYupyiqXfdHSGw7s6BBoVB15GL9ZvhUPnWoaEveXTiQ/Power%20House%20Creatives%20Logos%20FINAL.png" alt="Power House Creatives Logos FINAL.png" /><br/>
It is a pity that people like my wife’s cousin are dying so far from home. It was already a tragedy that they had been forced to leave their families behind. Now most of those who die in exile will not even be brought home for a final rest. Exile makes mourning and loss more inevitable and irreconcilable. The tragedy of our country is a summation of individual tragedies; a conglomerate a pains that keeps being overshadows by a conglomerate of political and economic interests. The world powers keep playing their game; our living cannot even bury their dead.
Es una pena que personas como el primo de mi esposa estén muriendo tan lejos de casa. Ya era una tragedia que se hubieran visto obligados a dejar atrás a sus familias. Ahora, la mayoría de los que mueren en el exilio ni siquiera pueden ser repatriados para un descanso final. El exilio hace que el duelo y la pérdida sean más inevitables e irreconciliables. La tragedia de nuestro país es una suma de tragedias individuales; un conglomerado un dolor que sigue siendo eclipsado por un conglomerado de intereses políticos y económicos. Las potencias mundiales siguen jugando su juego; nuestros vivos ni siquiera pueden enterrar a sus muertos.
# Thanks for stopping by
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