Unbeknown to the children of the Mendez family, Christmas for their mother, Esperanza, was a game of counting — counting hours, counting bills. The Mendezes, who settled in Chicago after enduring the strenuous journey from their home in Maracaibo, Venezuela, had spent previous Christmases surrounded by family and visiting neighbors and loved ones. They’d shared plates of food and gathered .
Good morning, Chicago. Esperanza Beatriz Mendez and her children fled Venezuela to escape an economic collapse that had shut down her kids’ schools and her city’s grocery stores. Their goal now: to make a new life in Chicago. The Mendez family trekked over 3,000 miles for more than seven weeks and survived Panama’s Darién Gap, a harrowing jungle where they watched, helpless and horrified, as .