So Your Character is From Venezuela … Featuring Alice @aliceswritingstory

I feel like this post is especially relevant with the new popularization of communism. The dangers of communism have been known to me throughout my life as I’ve lived in Miami where Cubans fled after the ascension of Fidel Castro. Venezuela is unfortunately another one of the countries that have been reduced from its former glory because of this toxic governing system. I hope one day it can overcome.

So Your Character is … series is where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last time’s So Your Character is from Mexico … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts is as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.

(None of the Images are Mine)

My name is Alice, which is unusual for a Venezuelan person, as the Spanish spelling of my name is Alicia. My mother, who doesn’t speak English, chose a name that she can’t properly pronounce, and I think this foreshadowed what would be my identity going forward: half Venezuelan-half foreign.I lived in the Netherlands as a child and English became my primary language. This was useful when I became an English-language journalist and correspondent in Caracas. I’m now part of the 4+million Venezuelans that have fled the chavista-madurista dictatorship. I live in Toronto, where I work as a Product Manager and also write short stories and novels.

Website//Instagram

What do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?

I’ll start by saying that I have two countries: I’m Venezuelan born and now also a Canadian citizen. If Venezuela is my fire, Canada is my refuge. For simplicity, the rest of the responses will be about Venezuela.

Venezuela’s natural beauty is breathtaking. It has jungles, some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and the tallest waterfall in the world, which inspired the Disney movie Up. Like many countries in the Americas that were subject to European colonization, we have a mixed heritage. Our folklore, customs, and even our take on Catholicism are touched by this. We also carry the burden of slavery and the subjugation and killing of indigenous people. We will have to continue to reconcile this for years to come.

Also, no frank conversation can be had about my country without recognizing the toxic polarization of politics, government repression, and the fact that we are now the second-largest refugee crisis in the world (Syria is the first).

Tell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?

When I lived there, I spent most weekends on the beach… even Christmas! I also visited the Andes Mountains and a sandy desert in Western Venezuela. The climate is warm year-round, with dry and rainy seasons. These are more drastic in the central prairies, while the Amazon rainforest is rainy year-round, and the mountain regions are cooler, but still fairly warm even in December.

Tell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?

The typical dish is called ‘pabellón’, which translates as ‘flag,’ because it is very colorful. The dish includes white rice, black beans, plantains, and stewed pulled beef. For Christmas, we eat ‘hallacas’, which are made of cooked cornmeal, filled with a pork and hen stew, and has olives and raisins as garnishes. This is all wrapped and cooked in a plantain leaf.

Tell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as “biscuits” instead of “cookies”?

Every Spanish-language country has different words, and we do run into situations where a word which is perfectly fine in one language is rude in another. I worked at a multi-national firm which had its Andean headquarters in Caracas. We had workers from the Andean countries there: Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. Each time someone new joined, we would have some laughs when they’d innocently say a word which had inappropriate connotations in another country.

Describe briefly a regular day in your country.

There is no such thing anymore. Venezuela is going through the worse humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere. A regular morning may require lining up for scarce goods at the grocery store. While many of the price restrictions that triggered scarcity of goods have been removed, many items are now priced in US dollars, which the regular person doesn’t have. Worse, there’s inflation on prices in the local currency and the dollar. Some analysts expect 6+million percent inflation for this year alone.

Another day, you may run into a protest you weren’t expecting, although there are less now that the government is strictly enforcing COVID restrictions with military stops between municipalities, asking people for papers before letting them through.  I wish I could paint a happy picture, but there’s little happiness in a country with such extreme poverty and so much repression.

How does your country compare to others, especially the States since my audience is primarily American? Environmentally? Politically? Culturally?

In the U.S. you’re starting to get a flavor of what polarization feels like: it’s like parallel realities. One political party says one thing, the other swears it’s the opposite. The same happens with Venezuela. If you ask a government follower these same questions, they’ll blame the ‘Empire’ (US) for causing our problems.

Despite the darkness that we’re facing, I get some hope when I hear about artists or other professionals who find success abroad and do their best to help other immigrants. Inside Venezuela, though, people relay on their sense of humor and hold on to hope that somehow things will improve.

Briefly describe three of your country’s historical events that you feel are important.

Venezuela led the independence movement against Spain in Latin America, inspired by the US. Unfortunately, we were mostly led by authoritarian governments. We only had true democracy around the mid-20th century, interrupted by right-wing dictatorship. Once true democracy started in 1958, we were a shining light of progress in South America, in a time when many other countries were facing either right-wing dictatorships or armed guerrillas.

However, despite the oil wealth and democracy, there was a great deal of corruption and mismanagement of funds, which only increased inequality and poverty. Hugo Chávez rode the wave of populism and became president in 1999. His political party only heightened corruption and has since tortured and jailed protestors and is accused of even killing opponents. It has shut down or quieted most local media as well.

What are some stereotypes about your country that irk you? What media portrays your country badly be it a movie, a book, or a TV show?

We’ve become the new ‘bad guys’ in American media. Jack Ryan season 2 on Prime is one example. I watched all of 10 minutes of it, and couldn’t stand the fact that the writers didn’t seem to have bothered to pick up a map, much less study the complicated politics there. Only one actor in the whole cast is Venezuelan. The others didn’t even try to fake a Venezuelan accent. They don’t seem to have worried about reflecting the country’s geography, culture, or complicated politics, other than as a caricature.

What media portrays your country well be it a movie, a book, or a TV show?

Disney’s Up speaks to our landscape, though sadly, there are no human Venezuelan characters. There was also an episode in Homeland about the Tower of David a real slum that exists inside a Caracas tower that was never finished. It does a better job of depicting poverty and how the gangs run their own version of justice in a country where the police forces are so corrupt.

Who are your top three favorite fictional characters native to your country in books, movies, or shows?

There aren’t very many that would be known to the average American unless they’re of Hispanic descent. This is the reason that I took to writing again. There are so many stories coming out of the political and economic upheaval of the past two decades, and while there are many Venezuelans writing about it in Spanish, I’m looking to write these stories in English, and with the background that someone abroad needs to understand the nuances. This is my gift as someone with two languages and also as a former English-language journalist there. I’ve just finished my first novel and am writing about my journey as a writer on my blog.

In terms of popular culture, Edgar Ramirez is our most famous actor. We also have great musicians. The most famous is Oscar D’Leon, the salsa singer. Nacho, Chyno Miranda, and Carlos Baute are popular in the Tropical and Pop genres. We also have great designers, the most famous of which is Carolina Herrera, who grew up in the golden age of Caracas.

Are you interested in participating in this project? Check out the tips archive to see which countries have been filled and if you’re from a different country, shoot me an email at howellvictoriagrace(a)gmail(dot)com. I’m especially looking for Cuba, Belarus, Zimbabwe, and Iraq.

Do you have any characters from Venezuela? Did this inspire you to write a Venezuelan character or set a book in Venezuela? Are from this or been to this country and you have further input? Feel free to share! Do you have any questions for Alice? Be sure to thank her!