A Venezuelan man and his pet squirrel made it to the US border. Now he’s preparing to say goodbye

By VALERIE GONZALEZ
Associated Press

MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — A 23-year-old Venezuela man is preparing to say goodbye to a pet squirrel he says he brought from his home country on a journey to Mexico. Yeison is among the millions of Venezuelans in recent years have fled because of political and economic upheaval. He’s spent months in Mexico waiting to make an asylum case in the U.S. He’s scheduled to get that chance Saturday but will likely have to leave behind his pet squirrel, Niko. Their journey together is an unusual but blunt reflection of the emotional choices migrants make over what to take with them. Yeison declined to give his last name because he fears for his family’s safety in Venezuela.