In 2005, when I was 11, my mother and I fled Venezuela because the government was going to arrest her for her reporting. She was among the first investigative journalists to document how President Hugo Chávez and the socialist party were taking control of the judiciary and integrating Cuban operatives into the military and security apparatus. She exposed how Chávez and his cronies were enriching themselves with oil revenues, creating what would become the largest corruption ring in modern world history. In an effort to silence her, the regime fabricated charges that she had orchestrated the murder of a corrupt prosecutor and put out a warrant for her arrest.
My mother's escape from Venezuela played out like a Hollywood thriller. She hid in safe houses, was transported in the trunk of a car covered with trash bags, and eventually made it out of the country stowed away on a small boat. A family friend shepherded me to Miami to join her a few days later.
