Three incredible women—Maria Virginia, Estefania, and Efigenia—are community leaders and changemakers in Peru. Maria Virginia runs a successful business selling tequeños to grocery stores throughout the country. Estefania works in the Peruvian health service industry. And Efigenia is a teacher and life coach. Besides being important members of their communities, all three women have something else in common: they are all displaced Venezuelans.
There are 1,043,460 Venezuelans currently living in Peru. Many of them migrated to the country following Venezuela’s economic and political collapse, and roughly half of them are women. Venezuelan women are generally highly educated. A recent survey conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática found that 42 percent of Venezuelan women in Peru have a bachelor’s degree. But many barriers exist for Venezuelan women who have sought protection in Peru amid their own country’s deepening crises. Roughly half of all Venezuelans in Peru have an irregular status. And those who do have jobs generally work in small enterprises, domestic work, or as independent workers rather than the fields they were trained in at home.
Venezuelan women in Peru can make meaningful contributions to their host community if given the chance. To better understand their experiences in Peru, Refugees International spoke with Maria Virginia, Efigenia, and Estefania about the ways they’ve connected with their new host country.
For each woman, the opportunity to create change and community came through work.
Estefania, an afro-Venezuelan trained as a nurse in Venezuela, created a community in Peru through a scholarship called Laboratoria that works to empower women through technology. She was the first Venezuelan woman in the country to receive this scholarship, and through this program she began to make friends and form connections—even paving the way for more Venezuelan women to apply.
Efigenia, who lives in Cusco, works to transform the lives of women in Peru through a virtual program called “Reinventing yourself is in style.” Efigenia teaches classes at a local university, works as a consultant, and since quarantine has been working as a psychologist. She said she has received a warm welcome in Cusco: “I went to a store, and they asked me where I was from, they gave me blessings, kisses, they were moved by what was happening in Venezuela.”
Maria Virginia is a business owner and the mother of two young children, one Venezuelan and one Peruvian. Growing her business and engaging her community took time and effort. She networked on social media to help spread the word about her tequeño business, and eventually participated in small fairs and events. Soon she was a fixture of the community. “Through entrepreneurship, we created a community… People in Lima knew that we were at the food fair every Sunday, and they would come and eat.”
Despite these successes, all three women faced difficulties arriving in Peru.
Efigenia traveled to Peru in February 2017 with a “suitcase full of dreams for my new life.” She was lucky to have her Spanish passport when she entered Peru, which allowed her to gain an immigration permit. Maria Virginia left Venezuela with her family because they discovered her mother had breast cancer, making their decision to leave more urgent. Thanks to an NGO called Union Venezolana in Peru, they were able to get her mother an immigration card that allowed her to benefit from the state’s Comprehensive Health Insurance, which covered a large part of her treatment. Estefania’s departure was an emotional one. She recalled the trip: “I remember, as if it were a movie, I was bathed in tears leaving. I bought the Bogotá-Lima ticket with the last $250 that my mother had.”
While their experiences vary, they reflect many of the challenges Venezuelans face in displacement. Many Venezuelans take long and arduous journeys, often on foot or by bus, to arrive in their new country. After these journeys, many face barriers to entry. Peru has implemented several restrictions for Venezuelans to enter the country such as needing a humanitarian visa to enter. Although all three women were able to enter Peru and receive some form of regular status, many Venezuelans enter irregularly and may live in fear of being returned to Venezuela. Many lack access to formal job opportunities, healthcare, and education. Luckily, Peru recently published a decree to regularize Venezuelans in the country. But barriers to enter and to live long term in Peru remain.
These barriers need to be lifted so that other displaced Venezuelan women like Efigenia, Estefania, and Maria Virginia can live their full potential and contribute to their communities. If the Peruvian government granted Venezuelans a regular status, access to work, and access to state services, there is a greater chance that they will make enormous contributions like the ones these women have made.
Efigenia, Estefania, and Maria Virginia told me that they are proud that Venezuelan women have a long tradition of being community leaders, feminists, and examples to other women in Latin America.
“Venezuelans as women contribute in so many places and ways… There has always been the idea that women cannot decide, that they cannot do… but we show that women can achieve anything,” said Efigenia.
Now we must work to give an opportunity to more displaced Venezuelan women so they too can one day lead.
Editor’s Note: Efigenia, Estefania, and Maria Virginia are members of a network of Venezuelan women called Venezolanas Globales that aims to build a global network that supports and makes visible Venezuelan women abroad. Refugees International was honored to award Venezulanas Globales founder Maria Corina Muskus Toro for her important work connecting Venezuelan women in the diaspora to new opportunities and connections. Refugees International would like to thank Venezolanas Globales for working to support forcibly displaced Venezuelan women across the globe
