Title: These Venezuelans left their lives behind to escape political turmoil. From L.A., they pick up the protest - Los Angeles Times
Headings: These Venezuelans left their lives behind to escape political turmoil. From L.A., they pick up the protest
These Venezuelans left their lives behind to escape political turmoil. From L.A., they pick up the protest
Leila Miller
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Eleazar Saldivia is still bitter at the turn of events that led him from a career as a federal criminal judge in Venezuela to driving for Uber in Los Angeles. But he doesn’t regret the decision to leave his life and home behind. In 2013, Saldivia began a trial in which he sentenced four policemen to jail for assaulting imprisoned anti-government protesters and allowing criminals to escape from prison. Despite orders from the government, he refused to reverse his decision, and the harassment that followed forced him to flee. “I could have had a brilliant career in my country,” said Saldivia, 42, who arrived in Los Angeles in September 2014 and now shares a small apartment in Hollywood. “ I could have stuck to what they told me to do and have simply done everything they said. But I couldn’t. My conscience and my education didn’t let me.” Advertisement
A record number of Venezuelans have fled a spiraling humanitarian crisis in their home country to seek refuge in the United States. Like Saldivia, some asylum seekers have landed in Los Angeles, where they join a small but active Venezuelan community that has created social media videos, held rallies and organized electoral campaigns to support anti-government protests.