The last time Miguel Tamburini saw his homeland of Venezuela was in 2013.
On Wednesday evening, though, he finally saw the ocean and the streets he once roamed again.
“It makes me feel proud of being Venezuelan,” he said.
In a one-night-only event, community members teleported to Venezuela for a 35-minute film through virtual reality technology. The experience was created by Japanese American filmmaker Noa Iimura, who had been warned to avoid the country. Instead, he spent six months there, capturing its beauty while also revealing glimpses of the crisis Venezuelans face today as their government spars with the Trump Administration.
Initially, the U.S. tour wasn’t scheduled to stop in Spokane, but Tamburini, owner of Jumping Jackalope Axe Throwing, reached out to Iimura a few weeks ago and offered his business so they could make the visit.
Tamburini’s goal in bringing the tour to the area is to help people see the truth and the good that Venezuelans have brought to the United States, considering that many have fled violence and economic hardship.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 8 million Venezuelans have left since 2014. About 770,000 have relocated to the United States.
“I just wish they open their eyes and realize that, first of all, the highest percentage of graduated-with-a-master-degree, of Hispanic people that moved to United States, are Venezuelan. That's huge,” Tamburini said.
“They paint us all under the same color; that is not fair, it's not right, and it should stop,” he said.
Tamburini recalled that he was 29 years old when he came to the U.S. on his own, with only $72 in his pocket and little to no English.
Right after he arrived is when hardships worsened in his country, he said.
“I'm lucky that my father is a US citizen, and it was a little easier for me to be able to make everything happen, but I wasn't expecting to stay,” Tamburini said, holding back tears. “I just needed to stay to be able to... feed my family over there. I was sending my mom, like, $100 bucks a month.”
The film revealed that many people in Venezuela still don’t have running water in their homes and must buy it. It also highlighted the country’s healthcare crisis: those in need of surgery often must purchase all the necessary equipment themselves – even their own surgical gown, which can cost up to $150, according to the film.
With more than 70% of Venezuelans living in poverty, that reality becomes an impossible burden for many families.
The documentary also featured an ex–gang member who briefly shared his story of leaving behind a life of violence and now plays on a rugby team made up of other former gang members. Still, he acknowledged that violence remains a daily reality for many in his community.
Alicia Pirela, 88, said she left Venezuela five years ago after experiencing the dangers herself, many while she was out walking in broad daylight.
“At my age, I couldn’t drive anymore, and I would walk to the church a lot because it was close to my home. And then one day, it was about 10 a.m., three men came up behind me and threw me to the ground,” Pirela said in Spanish. “They asked me to give them my wallet but I didn’t have money, so they took one of my necklaces."
The following day, she experienced a similar incident, where she was walking to the church in the afternoon and a couple of other men grabbed her by the hair and took another one of her necklaces.
“I still have nieces that live over there, but it’s a sacrifice to be living like that,” Pirela said.
Still, she emphasized being able to experience Venezuela through Iimura's lens made her miss her home and the blue water that borders her country.
Welfrido Valero also said his favorite part of the film was seeing the ocean. He said he fled Venezuela four years ago.
“There were still a lot of regions in Venezuela that were missing and could’ve helped in understanding the country’s situation, but it still felt like I was there,” Valero said.
He said he didn’t expect to get emotional while watching the film, but as scenes of Venezuela filled the screen, he felt a wave of nostalgia.
Although Venezuela isn’t in a good place right now, he said the experience gave him a glimpse of hope.
“We need to fight for our country and get it above water, because we have so, so many resources, but it’s all being handled by the wrong hands,” Valero said.
Monica Carrillo-Casas is a Murrow News fellow for Spokane Public Radio and The Spokesman-Review. All stories produced by Murrow Local News fellows can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. Image rights may vary.
