Venezuelans exiled in Spain say conditions “are not yet right” to return home

For years, many Venezuelans exiled in Spain – opposition figures and citizens – have hoped for a day when deposed President Nicolás Maduro is no longer in power.

It’s been a lasting hope for Xiomara Sierra since Venezuela’s July 2024 elections, when she became the target of threats while coordinating an opposition political party’s campaign. Sierra claims she was accused of terrorism on national television by the country’s justice minister.

“He banged his fist on a table and threatened me with Operation Tun Tun,” she said, referring to the mass arrests of demonstrators and opponents by Venezuelan security forces. “I didn’t say goodbye to my family. No one knew I was leaving.”

Sierra, now spokesperson in Spain for opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado, says she is worried about Venezuela’s vice president, who was sworn in as interim leader. “Delcy Rodríguez is the instrument of repression of the Venezuelan state,” Sierra said. “We can’t trust him.”

Faced with brutal repression by the Maduro regime, Venezuelans have sought refuge in Spain in recent years. Speaking the same language, sharing cultural similarities and benefiting from open migration policies, around 400,000 Venezuelans reside in Spain, according to the country’s statistics office.

“It’s a mixed feeling. It’s not what we expected,” said Sarahy Chirinos, who runs a Venezuelan bakery in Madrid’s Maravillas market. “Venezuelans expected Maduro to be removed from office and a democratic transition to begin with María Corina Machado. Now we must wait and continue to pray to God.”

Sierra is one of the few opponents exiled in Spain to speak publicly since the American operation which captured Maduro and his wife on January 3. Many prefer to stay out of the spotlight as they wonder whether they will be able to return to public life in Venezuela.

Human rights groups say Venezuela holds between 800 and 900 political prisoners, most of them arrested under Maduro’s leadership. Many of them would be detained in The Helicoidea detention center in Caracas documented for years as a place of abuse and torture against the prisoners.

On Friday, Venezuela announced the release of some political prisoners. US President Donald Trump responded in a social media post saying he had called off a second wave of military strikes in the country.

But Sierra said this release doesn’t go far enough. “For real change, all political prisoners must be released and all torture centers must be closed. Then, the popular vote of the Venezuelan population in 2024 must be respected.”

Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the 76-year-old former diplomat and opposition candidate in the 2024 presidential election who was granted political asylum in Spain, called on Friday to the “explicit” recognition of his electoral victory.

“The democratic reconstruction in Venezuela depends on the explicit recognition of the results of the elections of July 28, 2024,” he told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The former mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, exiled in Madrid, called for “strategic patience” moving forward. Leopoldo López, another opposition figure exiled in Madrid after being convicted in 2015 to 14 years in prison for calling for post-election protests in 2014did not react publicly.

An uncertain future

Fears are palpable among Venezuelan asylum seekers waiting for their requests to be processed in Spain. A 37-year-old applicant from the Spanish city of León asked to remain anonymous to avoid compromising her claim. “I’m very scared, we don’t know what’s going to happen in our case,” she said.

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2024, several European countries suspend asylum applications for Syrians. “If tomorrow Europe or Spain decides that Venezuela is safe, rejects our requests and tells us to go back, what will we do? There is no more hope in my country.”

For now, the Spanish Prime Minister has promised that Spain will help Venezuelans decide their future, while repeatedly condemning the American operation.

Since Trump’s return to power and his toughening of migration policies, Spain has recorded a increase in arrivals of Latin Americansparticularly from Venezuela. The absence of a tourist visa facilitates entry into Spain, but that does not mean that everything is simple.

“Like many Venezuelans, I had nothing when I arrived here in Spain, not even papers,” explains Chirinos, who now has her own business. The journey has been long and difficult, and so she remains undecided as to whether she will ever return to her country.

“It’s been so long since I left my country. I have two sons and my youngest, eight years old, was born when we left Venezuela. He never got to see his country,” Chirinos said.

“We hope to come back for the reconstruction”

Venezuelans in Spain wonder if the situation has improved enough to return home. Some say they haven’t seen their loved ones or their country in years.

“Venezuela is still not a free country, but it is entering a process of democratic transition that we hope will be effective,” said Eriana Zuleta, a 28-year-old Venezuelan exiled in Madrid who has only known Chávez and Maduro as leaders of her country. “It’s true that we haven’t packed our bags yet, we can’t leave overnight yet.”

His father, Erick Zuleta, president of Venezuela’s national transport workers union and a former opposition lawmaker, arrived in Spain almost a decade ago. “On July 26, 2017, when we voted for a transportation strike to protest the shortage, I was warned that the political police would arrest me,” said Erick, Delcy Rodríguez’s former neighbor.

What followed was a three-day escape that ended on the Simón Bolívar Bridge, which separates Colombia from Venezuela. “I crossed nine states in Venezuela, changing cars several times. I was scared, it was like a science fiction movie.”

Erick’s daughter followed him to Spain shortly after under pressure. Eriana said her family was under constant surveillance.

Erick already wants to think about the future of his country. “I already have a plan for the recovery of the transport system in Venezuela,” said the union representative, specifying that it would first be necessary for María Corina Machado to come to power in the country.

“We hope to come back for the reconstruction, but everything will depend on how events unfold,” he said.

Sierra also hopes to one day be reunited with her loved ones. “What happened on January 3 gives me hope that one day I will be able to return home, even if the conditions are not yet right.”