For millions of people there is no alternative. Faced with violence in their country, they make the decision to flee, and the United States seems to be the choice of many due to the enormous number of migrant success stories. However, not everyone is as lucky and There is a Colombian family that has spent 18 months in a shelter and they are still trying to rebuild their life.
The Vargas family gave an interview to the media The country in which they related the reasons that made them leave Colombia and what they are the difficulties that, after a year and a half of arriving in the United States, they continue to faceWell, the American dream has not yet arrived.
In the interview, Alexandra Gómez said that they lived in Neiva, on the banks of the Magdalena River. Her father, Régulo Francisco Vargas, worked as a lawyer and, together with her mother, founded a non-governmental organization called ACADESURCOL, dedicated to help the farmers of southern Colombia.
The woman, next to her husband, said that His intention was to use his legal knowledge to advise farmers free of charge.so that they knew their rights and the government support they could access to improve their situation.
But one day, when they were going to one of the communities to meet with the farmers, They were intercepted by armed men who threatened them. He claimed that they put a gun to his head and began telling him the name of each of his children, their schedules and all the details of their lives.
The men threatened to kill each of her family members if they did not stop carrying out their activities with the NGO. A week later, still Terrified at the possibility of harm to her family, they decided to migrate to the United States.
When they finally found themselves in the United States, they were detained by the Border Patrol and taken to an immigration center where, according to Gómez, They treated them like criminals.
She said, for example, that at first they were separated and that, after a week, they finally released her, her husband and the minor. However, His other two children, since they were of legal age, remained detained for another month, separated in different centers.
Subsequently, they were taken to New York, to an immigrant shelter near Times Square where they await the opportunity to regularize their situation and pay for an apartment where they can live with privacy and dignity. However, It has been 18 months since their arrival in the United States and they remain in the shelter.
The little Colombian who today is among the best chess players in the United States
In the history of the Vargas family, Mariángel draws attention, who is currently considered one of the 100 best girl chess players in the entire North American country.
Mariángel, given the situation that her parents faced, when she was only 10 years old, she had to leave the life she knew and was forced to emigrate to the United States, an unknown country in which he had to face various challenges.
Despite the challenges, He found in chess the best alternative to adapt to the country and have an escape of the difficult situation. At a public school in Manhattan she took her first class through a program that promotes play in educational centers and soon stood out.
At first, her mother Alexandra was not very convinced, considering that it was only a hobby that would take away the opportunity to learn English more quickly. But Mariángel showed that he had great talent and, Just one year after playing for the first time, he had already competed in more than 65 tournaments becoming one of the most active chess players in the entire state.
Today it ranks seventh in its division in the state of New York and has broken the ranking of 1,200 established by the United States Chess Federation, by achieving a score of 1,257.
Despite her good results, the little girl depends on various non-governmental organizations to find sponsors or patrons to cover the costs of her trips to play tournaments in the country. She has the dream of becoming an international Master, but, Their immigration status still represents a significant obstacle.
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