Ivonne Rivas de Benevides tried to hold back her tears in a telephone conversation with reporters as she told them that her 28-year-old son, Yornel Santiago Benevides Rivas, left for the USA a year and a half ago seeking to help his family, "to fix up the little house."
With a trembling voice, Ivonne remembers that the last time she spoke to her son was on Saturday, March 15. "He called me at 9:00 in the morning to tell me they were going to transfer him to Venezuela, that the plane was leaving at 12:00" the next day. Sunday arrived, and "very early I went to Maiquetía (Venezuela) to see if he had arrived, but the plane never arrived, they transferred him to El Salvador.
Since then, I've been desperate. They tricked them, said they were bringing them home, and then sent them to El Salvador.""My son isn't part of the Tren de Aragua gang. He didn't have any legal problems in Venezuela or anywhere. He's a healthy young man who was working to help us... He went looking for a better life to help us, to fix up the house," says Ivonne, who lives in the populous Caracas neighborhood of Catia.
After entering the US, Yornel worked delivery and construction. Yornel has two daughters: one is five (5) years old who lives with her mother in Venezuela, and who has not been told what is happening with her father so as not to upset her. She asks about him often, but her mother tells her that her daddy is working. He also has a daughter in the US.Yornel was picked up by ICE on February 8 of this year in North Carolina. He was at home with some friends, including a young man who is a barber and another who wants to be a singer. "There were about eight boys, they were making a video when they were arrested." It was Saturday night, "they were hanging out." From there, they were taken to a detention center in Texas and later to an immigration center in Georgia, Ivonne said. Yornel had no money to call his family from detention, but his friends helped him call his mom.
This is the message Ivonne is sending through the universe to her boy:"Son, don't give up. Your mom is here, strong. I haven't given up. Be very strong, you'll get through this. I'm standing here to give you the strength you need. Be very strong, because in the name of God, who is the Almighty, you'll get through this, just like the others. This must be a purpose the Lord has for you; you'll get out free, because you're not criminals; you're innocent, hard-working. Your mom is with you, son.
"She says that if she has to go to El Salvador to raise her voice for her son's return, she'll go. "Release those boys. They have no business in El Salvador. Send them back to their country. We mothers are desperate. I'd do anything for my son, send us on a plane to El Salvador so they know we're with them, that we're giving them strength and that we're going to get them out of there.” She tries to calm down, to compose herself again, she says she suffers from high blood pressure, and her son's kidnapping is making her condition worse, but her determination is stronger than her anguish.
"This situation is making me feel bad. I can't sleep, I can't eat, I have no peace, I can't get a bite to eat. I don't know if my son has eaten, if he is struggling," Ivonne said.(information from a news article published VEA, credit Yuleidys Hernandes Toledo)
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