{"id":493372,"date":"2026-01-05T05:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/493372\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T05:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:16:10","slug":"houston-fitness-instructor-who-grew-up-in-venezuela-says-capture-of-maduro-brings-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/493372\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston fitness instructor who grew up in Venezuela says capture of Maduro brings hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston<\/strong> \u2013 Inside Ryde, a premium cycling studio in Houston, Gustavo Handam is known for his high-energy classes, filled with music, movement, and motivation.<\/p>\n

But behind that joy is a past shaped by hardship in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born in Venezuela, in Caracas,\u201d Handam said. \u201cAnd when I was around 18, things got really bad. There was no food. We had to wait in long lines just to buy bread or chicken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handam recalls fonder memories in his earlier childhood. He said he was mostly raised by his father and grandparents. But said the country started to face hardship around 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government got really, really insecure,\u201d said Handam. \u201cA lot of protests with students. My dad had a bulletproof car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handam said he noticed the value of currency started going down and he moved to Miami to be with his mother in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou start thinking, where\u2019s my future?\u201d said Handam.<\/p>\n

Since 2018, Handam has lived in Houston. <\/p>\n

Now living in Houston, Handam has built a life as a fitness instructor full time \u2014 a career he says allows him to share positivity and community, even as much of his family remains in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

When news broke that President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro had been captured, Handam said he felt something he hadn\u2019t experienced in a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a light at the end of the tunnel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledges the situation remains complex and uncertain, but says the moment brought a sense of possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have faith,\u201d said Handam.\u201cNow we\u2019re closer to being free.”<\/p>\n

Handam said he hopes one day to return to Venezuela and see meaningful change.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston \u2013 Inside Ryde, a premium cycling studio in Houston, Gustavo Handam is known for his high-energy classes,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":493373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,222174,358,3187,32322,222175],"class_list":{"0":"post-493372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-cycling-studio","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-tx","12":"tag-venezuela","13":"tag-venezuelan-community-in-houston"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115840797163389559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}