The Criminalization of Venezuelan Street Culture

On the greeting of April 23, 2024, Claudio David Balcane González, a twenty-six-year-old instrumentalist from the authorities of Aragua, successful Venezuela, arrived astatine the Texas border. In the erstwhile 3 months, helium had travelled done 9 countries, earlier securing an assignment with officials astatine the U.S. Department of Homeland Security done CBP One, an inaugural of the Biden Administration to make a much orderly strategy for asylum claims. Border Patrol held him astatine the presumption until midnight, asking astir his inheritance and his galore tattoos, which see a rose, a clock, a crown, and 2 guns. Eventually, helium was released with a aboriginal immigration-court date. Balcane went to conscionable a person successful San Antonio and posted a representation with him connected Instagram, with the caption “If you tin imagination of it, you tin marque it happen.”

Balcane, who performs arsenic Davicito59, began making euphony astatine thirteen and spent years busking connected buses astir Maracay, the superior of Aragua. He started retired arsenic a rapper, but his absorption has since shifted to dembow, a genre that originated successful the Dominican Republic and has go explosively fashionable among Venezuelans successful the U.S. A period aft Balcane entered the country, helium released a opus called “Yo maine voy por el Darién,” which describes the perils of crossing the jungle that separates Colombia from Panama—jaguars, soldiers, criminals—and the hopes that kept him going. “We ate atom with vulture nutrient but held our heads high,” Balcane sings. “We had near location with a mission: to marque it big.” He called it “el nuevo himno de los caminantes”—the caller hymn of the walkers—and it rapidly gained a pursuing connected societal media. Balcane was soon collaborating with much established musicians, including John Theis, a pioneer of Venezuelan dembow successful the U.S. At a performance successful Detroit, Theis teased Balcane onstage. “This dude is present signing shot caps!” helium said. “You weren’t signing caps successful el Darién.”

Balcane’s existent breakthrough came successful February, erstwhile helium teamed up with Junior Caldera, a fashionable dembow vocalist successful Venezuela, and Luxor, a fellow-immigrant and a comparative newcomer to the scene. The track, called “Donaltron,” is acceptable to a hypnotic, frenzied beat, with lyrics that knock the Trump Administration’s migration crackdown and plead with the President to amusement mercy. “I committedness you I won’t smoke—I won’t portion much beer,” Balcane sings. “Well, lone a little, that can’t hurt!” The video, clips of which person been viewed millions of times connected TikTok and Instagram, shows the instrumentalist facing disconnected with a dancer successful a rubber Trump disguise astatine locations astir Chicago, including the city’s Trump Tower. “Just springiness maine a mates of months to people an American girl,” Balcane sings. “I’ll springiness you a fewer cachapas successful return.”

The opus received mixed reactions online. Most listeners seemed to find it comic and refreshing, but others, including galore Venezuelans, responded with disdain. “Those of america who behave marque nary noise, truthful they deliberation we don’t exist,” 1 commenter wrote. “Those who misbehave, a tiny fraction, marque a batch of sound and the remainder of america get fucked.” Other posters were adjacent much aggressive: “Please deport him to a distant island.” Someone other added, “Guantanamo.” Many of the commenters tagged Trump, ICE, C.B.P., and D.H.S.

Two months aft “Donaltron” was released, Balcane was intercepted by national agents portion leaving his flat successful Chicago. He was thrown to the crushed and handcuffed; an cause kneeled connected the backmost of his neck. When helium protested, saying that helium was an creator not a criminal, an cause told him, “We cognize perfectly good who you are. That’s wherefore we are here.” (A elder D.H.S. authoritative said, “Any accusations that an antithetic magnitude of unit was utilized are false.”)

Balcane was taken to an ICE installation successful the city, wherever agents accused him of belonging to Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan pack that the Trump Administration has designated arsenic a violent enactment and claims is invading the United States. The agents provided nary grounds different than Balcane’s tattoos, which they said were affiliated with the group. While searching his phone, they played the video of “Donaltron.” “How comic that helium is singing against deportation and is astir to beryllium deported himself,” 1 cause remarked.

Balcane relayed his communicative from a detention halfway successful Wisconsin, wherever helium awaits a proceeding connected May 29th. Santa Rita, wherever helium grew up, is simply a unsafe country connected the outskirts of Maracay, but radical adjacent to the instrumentalist contradict that helium is affiliated with Tren de Aragua; helium has nary known transgression grounds successful the U.S. oregon successful Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, oregon Peru, wherever helium antecedently lived. Balcane has stated that helium fled Venezuela aft receiving threats for songs that were captious of the country’s President, Nicolás Maduro. In 2016, helium was waiting astatine a autobus presumption erstwhile 2 men attacked him, hitting him connected the caput with the butt of a gun. “My euphony has ever been a mode to explicit my world and my nation’s struggles,” helium wrote successful a declaration. “It addressed antiauthoritarian erosion, economical collapse, and the unit utilized to soundlessness dissident voices.”

The “Alien Enemy Validation Guide,” which became nationalist done a tribunal filing successful March, lists elements thought to bespeak affiliation with Tren de Aragua and assigns a constituent worth to each. Suspects scoring 8 points and supra tin go “validated” members. In summation to accepted criteria similar transgression history, the usher instructs officers to cheque for “symbolism.” This includes tattoos that denote loyalty to the pack (four points); insignia, logos, notations, drawings, oregon formal that amusement allegiance to it (another four); and social-media posts that see its symbols (two more). A acceptable of accompanying documents enactment that members of the pack whitethorn person tattoos ranging from the Michael Jordan logo to an AK-47. A database of further identifiers includes donning “high-end municipality thoroughfare wear,” merch from U.S. sports teams with Venezuelan players, Jordan sneakers, and Chicago Bulls jerseys.

On societal media, Balcane regularly wears sports attire and decorator replicas, and proudly displays his tattoos. (Roses, clocks, crowns, and guns are each cited successful the D.H.S. documents.) His songs sometimes marque references to drugs and weapons—a enactment mightiness notation prepping coke oregon carrying a Glock. But, arsenic an creator who has worked with Balcane, whom I’ll telephone Carlos, enactment it, “You perceive to his lyrics and 50 per cent are drawn from his world and the different 50 are commonplace successful rap. A rapper mightiness say, ‘My bars are an atomic weaponry and your receptor is Hiroshima.’ That doesn’t mean he’s astir to driblet an atomic bomb.”

“Cuidadito,” a collaboration betwixt Balcane, Theis, and Brayita58, a dembowsero from the authorities of Carabobo, which borders Aragua, shows a radical of migrants successful streetwear, including Bulls merch, crowding into a Chicago subway car. Several person disposable tattoos. The musicians’ benignant perfectly matches the statement of alleged Tren de Aragua members successful authorities documents. In this context, the song’s chorus—“Watch out, I’m from Venezuela, we’re the caller kids successful town”—which intends to awesome the accomplishment of the dembowseros successful the U.S. Latino euphony scene, seems to corroborate the government’s worst fears.

One of the cardinal characters of the Venezuelan imagination, and truthful of dembow, is the malandro. Loosely translated arsenic “thug,” it describes some existent criminals and the style, behavior, and dialect of young men from mediocre neighborhoods. Much similar the usage of “thug” successful American rap music, dembowseros person reclaimed malandro and its accepted signifiers, transforming an epithet into a word of art. In Theis and Caldera’s opus “Malandrito,” it’s the atrocious lad each the girls want; successful Balcane’s “Bur d’ Malandro,” it’s the feline who acts each pugnacious but volition get crushed successful a rap battle.