Name: Venezuelans in Spain hope to return home amid uncertainty
Uploaded: 2026-01-06T08:32:48.062Z
Duration: 2 min 13 s
Description: Venezuelans in Madrid share hopes, doubts and nostalgia as they consider returning home after Maduro’s capture and years in Spain.

Venezuelans in Madrid share hopes, doubts and nostalgia as they consider returning home after Maduro’s capture and years in Spain.

Madrid

The U.S has launched strikes on sites inside Venezuela, including military facilities and arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro along wife his wife.

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Venezuelans living in Spain, such as Carlos Guata and Jassia Losorio, continue to honor their heritage by preparing traditional foods like arepas and sharing their culture with younger generations. Despite building new lives in Spain, many maintain a strong emotional connection to Venezuela and express a desire to return when conditions allow.

The community remains cautious, with some planning gradual returns and others describing their life in Spain as temporary. While grateful for the opportunities Spain has provided, many Venezuelans feel that their true home remains in Venezuela.

Venezuelans in Spain hope to return home amid uncertainty

A family recipe passed down from mother to son. Carlos Guata is making a traditional Venezuelan flatbread known as arepas. My mother made this all her life because it's a typical Venezuelan breakfast eaten by almost the entire country. He's been eating them since he was a boy. He now lives in Madrid but still has arepas almost every day. It's a way of keeping alive memories from home. We mostly eat our own food so that the grandchildren know about their own cuisine because our food is one of the many things that we had to leave behind in Venezuela so we still cook it. Despite being 60 years old he says he's ready to go back to Venezuela and contribute to his country. But he doesn't want to make any hasty decisions either. I'll start going back gradually. This year I want to go for a month, next year maybe for four, then we'll see. Jassia Losorio also uses food to stay connected with her culture. This is my favourite dish, it reminds me of home. She says relocating to Spain meant giving up a life she loved to start again from scratch. And despite living in Spain for four years, she says it still doesn't feel like her real life. More like a waiting room. I'm really grateful to Spain because it has given me a home, it has given me a job, it has given me a lot of things that I didn't think I would get so quickly. But my home, my heart, my mind are always in Venezuela. The celebrations that fill this square are over for now and that initial jubilation is tempered with caution. Many Venezuelans in Spain are watching and waiting to return to their country, but when the time is right. They say that while they do have lives in Spain, there's no place like home. Camille Nedelec, Al Jazeera, Madrid.

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Venezuelans in Spain hope to return home amid uncertainty

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Venezuela Strikes