Jerina Sykora: My motive for fleeing Venezuela was same as my grandmother’s for leaving Czechoslovakia

Photo: One World

Venezuelan-born Jerina Sykora was named after her Czech grandmother Jiřina, who fled to the South American state in the wake of the 1948 Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia. Jerina herself fled in the other direction; among millions of people who have quit Venezuela due to its political turmoil, she and her family have resettled in Czechia under a government repatriation scheme. Their gripping story is the focus of Volver a Volver, a documentary that will get its premiere at the One World festival in Prague next week.

When and why did your family [who owned a textiles factory] leave Czechoslovakia?.

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Author: Ian Willoughby