Venezuelan Grave Robbers Are Closing In on My Family
They sneak into the cemetery in the dead of night to snatch the bronze plaques from tombstones.
Editor’s Note: There are few places as chaotic or dangerous as Venezuela. “Life in Caracas” is a series of short stories that seeks to capture the surreal quality of living in a land in total disarray.
When I arrived at the cemetery’s main office, there was a long line of people waiting in the stifling mid-afternoon heat. They had all come to ask the same question I had: Is it true what everyone is saying—are graves really being stripped of their plaques?