10 APRIL 3-9, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ezuela in Central Park; it had been formed as part of a service project by two Denver high schoolers. With money raised by a GoFundMe, the team bought hats with the Venezuelan fl ag and jerseys with the Altitude All Sports logo. Team Venezuela only lost one game, Ra- mos says, and that record led the team to a Lil Bombers League Championship. It was special to win the championship “with kids who had gone through the same journey as me,” Ramos says. Like Ramos, his players describe a trau- matic journey from Venezuela. Velázquez says he remembers the “Rio Bravo, which is the border with Mexico and the United States, and a lot of people died,” he says. “The river would take them.” Soto Montillo realls that people died “in the jungle too,” referring to the Darien Gap. “In the jungle, there were dead people. There were two men lying down, holding hands, but they were already dead, and one was covered up.” Velázquez adds: “And a dog too.” Since arriving in the United States, people have been nice, the players say. According to Velázquez, the only exception was when “a person in Texas scared us and said a lot of bad words to us and that he wanted to hit us.” But they wish they could forget what they saw on their journey. “I’d like not to remember,” Soto Montillo says. “It feels like it’s happening again when I remember it.” It’s “very good, very good that they can distract themselves” with the game, Ramos says of his players. Some kids like Soto Mon- tillo and Velázquez are playing baseball for the fi rst time since leaving Venezuela; others, like fi ve-year-old Quevedo, are playing for the fi rst time in their lives. But all of them “play Caribbean style, like we like to say,” Ramos says. “They play with lots of excite- ment and joy. “It feels great more than anything be- cause the kids feel happy on the fi eld,” Ramos says. “They feel overwhelmingly happy and content.” Looking for Diamonds Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Ramos looks for baseball diamonds in west Denver that aren’t in use. Sometimes the diamond at Morse Park in Lakewood is open, and that’s not too far from his house. But most of the time, he comes to Sloan’s Lake and uses the small diamond in front of the lake, with the city skyline in the background. Most of the migrant families live in Au- rora, but they’ll take a bus or organize a car- pool to drive across town and get to practice after Ramos sends a text telling them where it will be. Then the children practice until someone kicks them out, or they get tired or when the rain comes, though sometimes they’ll play through that. The two high school students who helped sponsor Ramos last year still have their GoFundMe up, but they’re weren’t able to continue helping the team. But as helpful as donations would be, Ramos just wants more people to see his team play. “The help that I’d like to see wouldn’t be fi nancial so much as being present,” Ramos explains. “Visiting one of the games, one of the practices, and that way you can support us because there have been a lot of people that help us on social media.” Ramos likes the exposure for his team because “it’s good that people see Venezu- elans are up to something good.” In August, headlines started claiming that Aurora was taken over by the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, and since then, “everybody has been categorizing us as members of Tren de Aragua,” he says. “The majority of us are not those peo- ple,” he adds. “We left fl eeing them, and we haven’t been able to here. Now, we’re nervous about them.” Signing up with a league would help secure a fi eld for practice, Ramos says, but he can’t fi nd one and has been held back in the hunt by his limited English. Still, more parents keep signing their kids up for the Venezuelan Team; he charges $15 per kid, but that money goes to paying his coaches. Ramos manages the team for free, because he wants the players to have happy memories. “It’s a memory I know that they’ll have for the rest of their lives,” Ramos says. “I know because I still remember the fi rst practices and fi rst teams that I played with.” Email the author at [email protected]. News continued from page 8 Angel Alejo is one of the Venezuelan Little League players who won a championship with Ramos last year. BENNITO L. KELT Y
