The sewing machines and computers sit collecting dust in the dark. They were once tools of hope and empowerment, a promise for those seeking to build a life for themselves.
This abandoned workshop is no ordinary factory. It is a vocational school in Cali, southwest Colombia, run by local contractors of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and was once a route for Venezuelan migrants like Alexandra Guerra to develop the skills to join the shoemaking industry.
The school offered the 25-year-old single mother of two a way to provide for her children, younger sister, and mother. USAID was even going to pay Guerra a daily subsidy while she looked for work.
But she saw her hopes crushed when the White House halted foreign aid last month. Her classroom was shuttered. Courses ceased. And the prospects of staying in Colombia looked bleak once again.
US President Donald Trump’s sweeping changes to foreign assistance led to the rapid dismantling of USAID. A freeze was put on foreign aid, USAID staffers worldwide were recalled, and several were placed on leave in the president’s apparent attempt to shut down the agency — which he had declared a waste of money.
But in Latin America, USAID had helped create economic opportunities for people like Guerra, according to the agency’s website before it was taken offline, giving migrants a degree of stability and, often, a reason to stay.
Its proponents say USAID helped curb migration at its root – the same phenomenon the Trump administration wants to stop with policies like mass deportations from the US, ICE raids, and reinforcement at the southern border.
Gustavo Vivas, the project director of the USAID program Guerra was enrolled in, says the new policy of cuts is contradictory.
‘Any country will do’
Home to the largest Venezuelan migrant population in the world, Colombia is full of people with stories like Guerra’s.
In 2019, she left her village in Cojedes, Venezuela, and her family behind, making the trek to Colombia on foot. She was able to reunite with her family a year later after they joined her amid the pandemic lockdowns.
Last year, Guerra applied to the Safe Mobility Program as she set her sights on migrating to the United States legally.
Programs like Safe Mobility were Biden administration initiatives to offer legal routes for migrants in difficult situations to relocate safely in the US, such as Venezuelans and Nicaraguans fleeing authoritarian regimes.
But Guerra’s hopes were dashed when the program was shut down and her application was suspended last month, just a week before her classes were cancelled.
She has instead set her sights on migrating to Europe – where she would have to make the journey alone once again while her sons, aged four and eight, stay behind with their grandmother.
“Regardless that it’s not going to be the US, any country will do,” she said. “I want to work and earn enough to open my own business in Venezuela, one day… Right now, I’m a candidate for a job at an Italian airport. My doubt was that because Safe Mobility had shut, maybe the other [non-US] programs would also shut,” she said.
Guerra isn’t likely to be the only migrant in Colombia with dreams of leaving the country.
Colombian officials say closing USAID will push even more people to migrate as their country was one of the largest recipients of US aid funds in the world, with more than 82 programs worth almost $2 billion currently suspended because of Trump’s order.
‘Immigrants don’t leave their country just because they want to’
She credits the team at the Cali vocational center for providing guidance through psychologists, advisors and mentors to support her beyond the classroom.
Yet, almost five years after settling down in Cali, Olimpio hasn’t given up the dream of moving to another country that could offer more opportunities than Colombia. Moving to the US is on the cards, but Olimpio says she would only do it via legal channels.
“A migrant is not just a face on social media, we are people!” she said, tears welling in her eyes while pointing out that many Venezuelans are fleeing disastrous economic conditions and brutal repression back home.
“Immigrants don’t leave their country just because they want to,” she explained.
Aid workers in turmoil
It’s not just migrants who are at the receiving end of the gutting of USAID. Colombian aid workers employed by US-funded programs have also found their lives upended.
One aid worker described an email she received from her employer, an NGO, announcing the suspension of US funding for her program.
“In the email they said: ‘We understand you have questions, and most likely we don’t have answers for them…’ I think that sums everything up pretty well: nobody knows anything other than the funding has been frozen,” said the aid worker, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of possible repercussions.
At the shuttered Cali vocational center, Olimpio says it saddens her to know others cannot access what USAID offered her. These are people who she says: “literally depend on what they learn.”
“There are people right now who are waiting for their opportunity, just like I waited and got it,” she said. “They don’t know if they’ll get it.
