Escaping a Venezuelan Prison | Locked Up Abroad

2m read

·Nov 11, 2024

Enjoy your first day release.

As I walked through the doors, I couldn't believe it. It wasn't just some crazy dream. I might actually get away with this. My stomach's churning over, tying itself up in knots.

I got on the bus. I'm praying that I'm never going to see this place ever again. The bus starts moving. It felt amazing. It felt great. I'm feeling more and more free and less and less like a prisoner.

But the closer we get to the border, I'm getting so nervous. The last bit of the journey is the most dangerous. The bus drives up to the checkpoint. There's guardia everywhere. Not every car gets stopped, so when we got pulled over, my heart literally dropped into my stomach.

I stand out in Venezuela with blue eyes. I can't have the guardia seeing my eyes. If it's the guardia that's worked in the prisons, he's going to recognize me. [bleep] myself.

So I pretend to be asleep. I'm praying that they don't ask to see my passport.

NARRATOR: They scan it. It's going to pop up that I'm a prisoner. When the guard asked the guy next to me, I'm thinking this is it. I'm [bleep]

NARRATOR: And then he asks me for my passport. Before I've had time to think, the bus driver says there's no point in talking to the gringa. She can't speak a word of Spanish.

OK.

NARRATOR: And the guardia doesn't question it. I literally cannot believe what has just happened. I feel like I've got guardian angels around me. I've just escaped prison. I deserved my sentence. But I'm getting closer to Nikita. It was the best feeling in the world.

I can't believe that was my daughter in front of my eyes. She's five years older. And she looks so different. I said, you know what my name is? She said, no. And I said, my name is Natalie. And she said, are you my mummy? I said, yes, I am your mummy. And I always will be.

Deriving Lorentz transformation part 2 | Special relativity | Physics | Khan Academy

With Love, To The Moon

View All

How To Beat The Odds When Buying Stocks (Mohnish Pabrai: The Dhandho Investor)

[Music] So there’s been a lot of people trying to get into the stock market over the past year or so, and I actually just finished re-reading Monish Pabrai’s book, “The Dondo Investor,” which is a very good stock market book. But I’ve actually forgotten h…

3 Arguments Why Marijuana Should Stay Illegal Reviewed

All around the world, marijuana is being decriminalized, or even made legal. But is this really a good idea? In the online debate, the harmful sides are often downplayed. So let’s look at the three most powerful arguments against legalizing marijuana. Ar…

The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do

In December 2019, the Chinese authorities notified the world that a virus was spreading through their communities. In the following months, it spread to other countries, with cases doubling within days. This virus is the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-…

STRAPPED INTO A SINKING HELICOPTER (with U.S. Marines) - Smarter Every Day 201

(helicopter flying) (alarm systems beeping) [Instructor] Ditching, ditching, ditching. (water rushing) So, I’m alive. (laughs) All right, here’s the deal. My last mission as a U.S. government civil servant was in a helicopter off the coast of Hawaii. W…

Dan Savage on the AIDS Epidemic | Generation X

People didn’t believe that our love was the equivalent of heterosexual love. Uh, not even people who considered themselves down with the gays believed that. I think it was Harvey Milk in “Torse Trilogy” who said that it would be great one day if we all gr…

The age of empire | Rise to world power (1890-1945) | US History | Khan Academy

So I have a map here of United States possessions in the Pacific and in the Caribbean today, and they’re kind of all over the place. I mean, some of them are pretty tiny. There’s Guam, which is just barely a little speck on the map, and American Samoa. An…

Escaping a Venezuelan Prison | Locked Up Abroad

More Articles