Luis Baena, who left his home in El Tigre, Venezuela, six months ago, visits the Sé Cathedral in São Paulo, to pray and offer thanks for the chance to start a new life in Brazil. (Gui Christ / For The Times)
L.A. Times: Escaping Venezuela: They pour into Brazil by the thousands looking for work
Luis Baena shares a room with 127 other men.
During the day he looks for work or sings on the streets of downtown São Paulo for a few reais. When he sits down for a meal, he feels pangs of guilt, wondering whether his wife and children back in Venezuela even have food on the table. The last time he spoke with them, they were making do with cachapas, a corn pancake with beans, and eating once, maybe twice a day.
His search for work took him first to Praça das Águas, a public square in the city of Boa Vista in northern Brazil, where he slept outdoors. When he heard there were jobs in São Paulo, he accepted the government's offer to be relocated to the megacity and in early April landed at the municipal shelter in São Mateus, a neighborhood east of São Paulo.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The arrest of military officers .... Venezuela arrested 15 military officials over vote period - rights group (Reuters) is now fueling talk of a coup .... Venezuela is about to explode (Matias Vernengo, Al Jazeera).
Update: 'Officer coups are often unsuccessful and bloody': Wall Street weighs in on a military coup taking out Venezuela's Maduro (Business Insider).
