BOGOTA, Colombia — A gay Venezuelan man who has lived in Colombia since 2018 says he fears for his country’s future after the United States detained former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“I feel happy, but I also feel very anxious,” coach Hevers Aguirre told the Washington Blade on Tuesday during an interview at a shopping mall in the Colombian capital Bogotá.
Mr. Aguirre, 35, is from Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second largest city and the center of the country’s oil industry.
He developed cultural and artistic initiatives for the Zuria state government.
“Little by little, all of a sudden I started getting involved in politics. In a way, I had to get involved in politics,” Aguirre recalls. “The administration has been saying that a lot, so we needed to get involved.”
“I basically felt that I was working for the people, but because of this deeply ingrained rule, we had to side with the people, with the Maduro regime and the Chavez regime,” he added.
After Chávez’s death, Maduro became president of Venezuela in 2013.
“There are things about the administration that I don’t support,” Aguirre told the Blade. “There were other things that were good in theory, but in practice they turned out to not work.”
Aguirre noted that Maduro’s government had implemented “many laws.” He also said that he and other LGBTQ Venezuelans “don’t have any guarantees in our lives in general.”
“It exposed you in a way,” Aguirre said. “We felt that we were protected to some extent by working with them (the government), but that was not entirely true.”
Aguirre, 35, studied graphic design at the University of Zuria in Maracaibo. He said soldiers, Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard and police officers opened fire on the students, who eventually retreated.
“It’s happened so many times that I said I can’t keep putting my life at risk,” Aguirre told the Blade. “It hurt to see what was going on, and it hurt to lose my place at the university.”
Aguirre left the country in 2018 due to Venezuela’s economic crisis and worsening security situation. They entered Colombia via the Simón Bolívar Bridge near the city of Cúcuta in the northern Santander department.
“If you thought differently, they (the Venezuelan government) would come after you or you would disappear, and no one would do anything,” Aguirre said in response to a question from the Blade about why he left Venezuela.
Simón Bolívar Bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border on May 14, 2019. (Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
Aguirre spoke to the Blade three days after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Venezuela’s capital Caracas during a night operation.
Venezuela’s Congress on Sunday swore in Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, as acting president. Mr. Maduro and Mr. Flores on Monday pleaded not guilty to federal drug charges in New York.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday real social posts He said Venezuela’s interim authorities “plan to deliver 30 million to 50 million barrels of high-quality sanctioned crude oil to the United States.”
“This oil will be sold at market price and managed by me as President of the United States to ensure that the funds are used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States,” Trump wrote.
President Trump indicated Sunday that the United States would target Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Petro is a former Bogota mayor and senator, and a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement, which disbanded in the 1990s.
Petro called on Colombians to take to the streets on Wednesday. “Protect national sovereignty”. Former senator Claudia López, who will become Colombia’s first female and first lesbian president if she wins the presidential election later this year, was among those who criticized Trump’s comments.
When asked about Trump by the Blade, Aguirre said, “Let’s be clear: Trump doesn’t care about the humanitarian side.” “We cannot paint him as the savior of Venezuela.”
Meanwhile, Aguirre said his relatives in Maracaibo remain concerned about what will happen after Maduro’s ouster.
“My family has been silent, to be honest,” he said. “They don’t post anything online. They don’t go out to participate in marches or celebrations.”
“Imagine them being at the epicenter of a hurricane,” Aguirre added. “They’re in the middle of all the trouble, so it’s completely understandable that they don’t want to say anything.”
“I never thought I would have to emigrate in my life.”
Aguirre built a new life in Bogota.
he founded Mesa District LGBTIQ+ de Juvenes y Estudiantesis a group working with migrants from Venezuela and other countries and Colombians placed in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aguirre told the Blade that he started the group “out of a need to serve not just Colombia, but the people in general.”
Aguirre met her husband, an American from California, at a church in Bogotá in December 2020 during a Christmas event organized by the LGBTQ organization SDA Kinship Colombia. On July 12, 2024, a Utah judge officiated the wedding virtually.
“I love Colombia and I love Bogota,” said Aguirre. “I love everything I went through because I feel like it helped me grow.”
He reiterated that he does not know what will happen to Venezuela after Maduro.
“As a Venezuelan, I experienced the greatness of this country,” said Aguirre. “I never thought in my life that I would have to emigrate.”
The Colombian government’s temporary protection program allows Aguirre and other Venezuelans who have taken refuge in Colombia to reside in the country for up to 10 years. Aguirre reiterated his love for Colombia, but also told the Blade he would like to return to Venezuela and help rebuild the country.
“I wish this would all be over in five years and I could go back to my home country and take the skills I learned abroad,” Aguirre told the Blade. “Many of us received training. Many of us studied a lot. We connected with organizations that networked and enriched us as individuals and professionals.”
“It’s great to be back,” he added. “What we have built overseas will almost certainly help enrich this country.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
