"Jenny de Silva moved to La Esperanza seven years ago. That's no metaphor. La Esperanza which means hope in Spanish is one of the neighborhoods in Villa del Rosario, part of the metropolitan area of Cucuta, which is located a few miles from the Simon Bolivar border crossing that connects Colombia with De Silva's home country of Venezuela."
"Like many other Venezuelans, she fled from the economic situation in the country. The crisis began, I was pregnant, and we had to emigrate. You couldn't get food or medicine, she recounts bitterly in front of a house in which free Bible classes are offered, in the Andean foothills."
"I am a cancer survivor, and Cucuta has given me the opportunity to beat the illness. In Venezuela, that would have been impossible, she says. Besides her husband and their two children, the rest of De Silva's family still lives in Valencia, in the state of Carabobo. They say that since the United States captured Nicolas Maduro, residents only leave their homes on strictly necessary errands, after which they promptly return. For the moment, she rules out returning home. If my illness comes back, they won't treat me there, she says."
Jenny de Silva moved to La Esperanza seven years ago and settled in a neighborhood within Villa del Rosario near the Simon Bolivar border crossing to Venezuela. She fled Venezuela during the economic crisis while pregnant because food and medicine were unavailable. She is a Jehovah's Witness who shares her faith in the neighborhood. As a cancer survivor, she credits Cucuta's healthcare for her recovery and says treatment would have been impossible in Venezuela. Her husband and two children live with her while the rest of her family remains in Valencia. Thousands of Venezuelan migrants and returnee Colombians now live in Cucuta's outskirts.
Read at english.elpais.com
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