Migrants dance just to survive
THE three Venezuelan migrants eke out a living 90 seconds at a time in a busy intersection of Peru’s capital. When the traffic light flashes red, the acrobatics and break-dancing starts.
With a captive audience of pedestrians and commuters, the dancers’ headstands, dizzying spins and fastpaced steps on a good day net up to $20 (R287) – nearly three times the monthly minimum wage in Venezuela.
They are just part of a flood of Venezuelans fighting for survival after fleeing their homeland and the worst economic crisis anybody in Latin America can remember.
Most Venezuelan migrants head to neighbouring Colombia. Farther-off Peru is the second-most-common destination.
Rojas, 25, and her husband, Francisco Diaz, arrived in Lima in 2016, leaving behind their home in the Venezuelan state of Merida, where they ran a break-dancing collective.
In Peru, they met the third partner, Angel Fernandez, 22, from their home state. The three settled on a busy intersection in Lima to perform.
Their dancing also caught the attention of Angelina Jolie in October, when the actress visited Lima as a special envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Rojas and Diaz hope to buy a threewheel motorcycle taxi.
“We’re never going to stop dancing,” Rojas said. “Dancing helps us forget all of our sorrows.”