Verborgen Leven

Venezuelan refugees speak openly about their lives in the shadows on Curaçao and Aruba. From a deserted soldier to a bricklayer, and from a hospitality entrepreneur to an education specialist. What is it like to live in a legal vacuum, a victim of exploitation and under constant threat of deportation?

Venezuelans fleeing to Curaçao and Aruba end up in a legal vacuum. An estimated minimum of 23.000 Venezuelans on the islands cannot apply for asylum. Even though the islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, there is no asylum procedure in place. The Venezuelans live in the shadows, without access to legal employment or healthcare.

Together, they share their experiences of the dangerous journey across the sea, their stay in the detention centre in Curaçao, the lack of access to medical care, exploitation by employers, and the constant fear of deportation to Venezuela. Like ‘Julia’, a single mother who has been separated from her children and mother for seven years. And ‘Carlos’, who sends the money he earns as a construction worker on Curaçao to his sick mother in Venezuela.