'The love letter to my neighbourhood that helped me flee my country'
Even before Chávez came to power, Venezuela held a popular annual love letter writing competition.
José had seen the violence, the crime, the death that Venezuelans associated with Niño Jesús. But he also wanted to show the colour, the life, behind all those stories. Although I understand how important you were to building my life, I was always ashamed of you. I denied knowing you.I never belonged to you as much as I do now, when I am without you and you are without me. I had never realised before that I loved something I'd already lost.I came from you and I will always be yours.After a moving performance, much to his surprise José won the competition.
"My mum was still living there, and given that I couldn't have any way to take my family with me at the time, it was nice to be with them. It was a good way to say goodbye and it was actually lovely to get back to the place I had grown up, to see those colours again."José found the idea of leaving extremely difficult because he feared he wouldn't be able to return as long as Maduro remained in power.
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