Arriba News

Not long ago, I noticed there was someone new on Facebook.  She was young, beautiful and she had a business called Burgundy Balloons.  I kept seeing posts and learned she was from Venezuela, so I contacted her to learn more on what brought her to Flagler, CO. and I learned that it was a Love Story!

So I will take you back to Venezuela where Anna Katherine Fernandez was raised by her wonderful single mother.  She spoke Spanish, but was determined to teach herself English by reading it and speaking English with others. 

As a young girl, she was frequently on dating sites.  Not to find a boyfriend, but so she could converse in English.  She also entered several beauty pageants as an attractive teen and continued to win pageant after pageant.  She explained that winning was fun and wonderful, but there is also a dark side to the pageant world and she chose not to continue for many reasons.

Anna never had any formal training in English, no college degree, but she became so proficient in English that she was hired by two schools to teach English to the students and she also taught Spanish in an evening course. 

Anna found it was very difficult to live where she was raised and now she was a single mom, raising her beautiful daughter Antonella.  Anna continued to visit the dating sites online to improve speaking English, and one voice, an American, caught her interest. She caught his as well!

They began visiting often and then it grew into something more, visiting all day at times and into the night until they realized that they had fallen in love.  With so many miles between countries, how would they ever meet?

Anna spoke about  Venezuela as a country.  Venezuela has the world's largest known oil reserves.  It has been one of the world's leading exporters of oil.  Previously, the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. 

The excess and poor policies of the incumbent government led to the collapse of Venezuela's entire economy.  Venezuela struggles with record hyperinflation, shortages of  basic goods, unemployment, poverty, disease, high child mortality, malnutrition, environmental issues, severe crime and widespread corruption.

When the power collapsed, Venezuela was without power for five days.  That meant Anna had no food or water to provide for her daughter during that time, so she sought asylum in Columbia.  She continued talking with her American love, Nick Fritzler and they began making a plan for her to seek  asylum in Mexico.  This is where the challenge began.

I have tried to write about her challenges during this time, but I realized early on that I had no idea what I was talking about, so I asked Anna to describe it in her own words...

Timeline of Events

We Left Venezuela in March 2019.  I crossed the border into Colombia with my 5 year old daughter on an alternative route because at the moment the government had shut down all the borders, so we literally had to sneak out of our own country through the forest area filled with Colombian Cartel members manning every clandestine checkpoint we went through.  Having to pay a "fee" in order to safely walk into the next checkpoint.  We went on like this until we reached a river, where we had to climb on a tiny, super narrow canoe to get to the other side. 

The whole thing was terrifying, but a lot of people had been doing this for a few months by then, so I knew a little bit of what to expect.  Also, a friend, who was a taxi driver, helped guide us all the way into Columbia. 

We took an 18 hour bus ride to the Colombian capital of Bogota and once we were there, we went to a hotel and stayed for almost a week.

First attempt to go to Mexico was late March 2019.  We flew into Cancun and landed at around 9 p.m.  Mexican immigration officials decided not to let us into the country, which every nation has a right to deny entrance to foreigners and so we had to end the night in a room on the floor with other travelers that had also been denied entry into the country.  They held our luggage, passports and cellphones so I could not communicate with Nick or my mom that whole night. The next morning, they put us on a flight back to Columbia and we returned to the hotel where we had been staying previously,

Second attempt to go to Mexico was successful.  We landed in Monterrey and we were allowed into the country.  There, we spent the night at a hotel and the next morning, a friend of a friend picked us up and drove us to the border with the USA.

First attempt to cross the border.  We encountered US border patrol officers, and I told them I was a Venezuelan citizen seeking asylum.  I was already on US soil at this point, but they refused to take us in because they claimed their office was not set up for detainees and to turn around.  After pleading with them for hours, I eventually gave up and turned around back to Mexican soil, where I found a good Samaritan who gave us a ride to the nearest town, Nuevo Lareo.  This was mid April 2019.

In Nuevo Lareo we found a hotel and on our second day.  I noticed a young woman who was checking out and she had a young daughter close to my daughter's age.  When I hear her speak, I recognized her accent as Venezuelan and I approached her.  We were on the same mission: seeking asylum in the US.  So we exchanged phone numbers and kept in contact for the next 3 weeks until she was able to find another border crossing in the city of Reynosa.

Second attempt to cross the border on May 12th 2019.  We took a taxi to the border crossing and before getting to the actual dividing line, we got out and walked up to the border patrol officer who asked us if we were Mexican.  Once we said we were Venezuelan and we sought asylum, they verified this info by taking our passports and proceeded to book us into their system as detainees, which was standard procedure for the situation.  We were then taken to a detention center where we stayed for about 5 days.  During this time, they conducted a "credible fear" interview, which was also required in order to be qualified as legit asylum seekers.  On the 6th day they moved us to a different detention center, where we spent one night.

Arriving in the US on May 18th, we were allowed into the country, in McAllen, Texas with a form that was the proof that we were processed and legally allowed to US soil as asylum seekers and had to request a hearing with an immigration judge.

Arriving in Colorado on May 19th, 2019, we flew from McAllen, Texas to Houston and then to DIA and this is where I met Nick in person for the very first time.

Getting a green card was a long, stressful and expensive process,  Nick and I got married on August 24, 2019 and a few weeks after our wedding we got our marriage certificate back from the county clerk at the same time as we got my first immigration court hearing regarding my asylum case. 

We quickly hired a lawyer who took both our asylum case and adjustment of status (which is the legal term for getting a green card).  Our green card petition was marriage based, so we could not file a petition until we were married. 

We spent the next few months meeting with lawyers, appearing in immigration court, gathering documents and paying fees, as I navigated life in a completely different country with a different culture and language and starting a married life.  At the same time, getting my daughter enrolled in school and helping her navigate school life in a new place.  It is worth mentioning that she did not speak a word of English and she was only five, and on top of this, we were expecting our son, James.

We were granted an interview with an USCIS official on March 23, 2021 for our green card petition.  Nick and I were interviewed separately and the goal of this interview was to determine if our marriage was legitimate and not a fraud for a green card.  Our petition was approved almost immediately and I became a legal resident of the United States.

Becoming a citizen.  After 3 years as a green card holder, I was allowed to file a petition for naturalization (becoming a citizen).  I had to study US history, laws, constitution, and politics among other things.  I once again had to attend an interview with a USCIS official and I passed my exam and a few weeks later, I received in the mail an invitation to attend the naturalization ceremony on September 23, 2024 and I became a citizen of the United States!

A few things that Anna wanted me to mention:  She had to keep  an impeccable criminal record in order to maintain her green card and become a citizen. There were a few fingerprint checks done during the whole process.  Her daughter didn't speak English when they first got to America, but she picked it up quickly at school in less than a year.  She speaks English fluently and she doesn't speak Spanish any longer, but understands most of it.  Also, the only reason she was able to become a resident and then a citizen was because Anna entered the country in an unconventional but absolutely legal and legitimate manner.   

And lastly...before being allowed into the country, border patrol disposed of all of their belongings, so all Anna had when she first got to DIA, were the clothes on her back, $40 and the paperwork that proved she was allowed in the US.

Before all of that, Nick and Anna had a long distance relationship for a year and a half before they met in person.  They communicated every day via video chats, voice messages and texts and their video chats lasted from two to five hours every night.  Anna commented that most people who were skeptical of their relationship on his side thought she only wanted a green card.  On her side, relatives were fearful Nick would be some sort of crazy person who would physically harm her.  But now they are a happy family of five and she loves that she changed her last name from Fernandez to Fritzler and her daughter, Antonella was adopted by Nick Fritzler.

Anna commented that she is a self-taught polyglot without immersion, which means she speaks four languages (Spanish,English and Italian at fluent/native level and French at beginner level).  She has never received formal instruction and never has gone to all the countries of origin of the languages. She speaks all four and is self taught.

Burgundy Balloons

You may have seen some balloon displays on Facebook, at a celebration or a local graduation.  The first time Anna made a balloon garland was to decorate her dining room for her and Nick's 2nd anniversary.  She had no idea what she was doing and even blew up all the balloons herself.  She has a cousin with a balloon business and she gave Anna pointers.  She encouraged Anna to start a business and when friends came to her kid's birthday parties, they would comment how much they liked her balloon displays.  Now she is well known for her amazing balloon displays!

Anna said that the reception and support of the community has been amazing and since she started this balloon business, more and more people are integrating balloon art into their celebrations.  Whether they hire her or do it themselves, it fills her with joy to know that she has brought a new addition to people's celebrations.  From baby showers to bachelorette parties and even a celebration of life, she has had the pleasure of working with so many people and every single job means the world to her.

Now you can see why I wanted to know more about Anna Katherine Fritzler.  I had her help with writing about her journey to America, and I hope you meet her in your travels. She is truly remarkable!