Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with a homicide rate of 58 per 100,000 inhabitants reported in 2015. It is also extremely corrupt, with the recent re-election of President Nicolás Maduro considered rigged and regular violent protests breaking out on its streets. But even aside from its current crisis, being gay made life virtually impossible for Carlos.
Carlos knew he was gay from the age of 16, when he felt romantically attracted to another boy at his local church. “I went to the priest for confession. told the Father that loved this guy and he said, ‘You need to stop the relationship with him, spend time with girls’. But was always around girls! love girls and all of my best friends were girls. The other guy had confessed the same thing, and the father split us up so we were doing different masses at different times, but began meeting up with him outside church and we started a secret relationship.”