"The screens, once dominated by Caracas politics, now show baseball games or American news channels. Customers come in, order coffee, arepas or cachitos, and leave without lingering. There are no political discussions at the tables. These days, no one, or almost no one, utters the word intervention aloud. Here, where conversations about Venezuela were once part of the daily landscape, silence has become the norm."
"People prefer to keep quiet, an employee remarks as he wipes down a recently vacated table. Just in case. Fear of reprisals from Nicolas Maduro's government, concern for family members still in the country, or simply the prudence of those with pending immigration cases in the United States leads many to remain silent. We don't officially know what's happening. We only know what official sources have said: that there are problems with the airspace, flight cancellations,"
El Arepazo, an iconic cafe for Venezuelan exiles in Doral, Florida, is unusually subdued, with screens showing sports and American news while patrons avoid lingering or political talk. Many community members stay silent out of fear of reprisals from Nicolas Maduro's government, concern for relatives in Venezuela, or caution because of pending U.S. immigration cases. Official information is limited to reports of airspace problems, flight cancellations and a U.S. maritime presence aimed at dismantling armed groups linked to drug trafficking. Doral has the highest concentration of Venezuelan-born residents in the United States, and a quiet debate persists over diplomacy versus military intervention.
Read at english.elpais.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]