The Freedom of an Escape From Venezuela and the Loneliness That Followed
A man fled the country to escape political violence and seek asylum in the United States. He has made some inroads in New York financially, but he misses the family he left behind.
By
![Jackson Villamarin Villegas sits on his air-mattress bed in his new third-floor walk-up apartment in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/29/multimedia/29renters-Villamarin-zmbf/29renters-Villamarin-zmbf-thumbLarge.jpg?auto=webp)
![Jackson Villamarin Villegas sits on his air-mattress bed in his new third-floor walk-up apartment in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/29/multimedia/29renters-Villamarin-zmbf/29renters-Villamarin-zmbf-threeByTwoMediumAt2X.jpg?auto=webp)