Helene Villalonga, president of AMAVEX and ally of the OAS, plays a dual role: she denounces restrictions while managing migration businesses from Florida.
The image of Helene Villalonga crying before cameras, pleading with President Donald Trump regarding measures against Venezuelan migrants, contrasts sharply with her role as a migration facilitator. This lawyer, president of the Multicultural Association of Activists Voice and Expression (AMAVEX), operates simultaneously as a humanitarian activist and a businesswoman in the migration sector through her company, Helene Villalonga LLC, established in 2022.
According to documents reviewed, Villalonga –who has lived in the U.S. since 2000– leads AMAVEX, which was established in 2007 as the Association of Venezuelan Mothers in Exile. Today, the organization has transformed into a family core: her son Juan José Correa and her secretary Marta Marlene Bello now control the board, following a restructuring in 2023.
While publicly questioning deportation policies and promoting narratives of a “complex humanitarian crisis” in Venezuela –aligned with OAS Secretary Luis Almagro– her company provides migration consulting services to fellow compatriots. Helene Villalonga LLC, registered in July 2022, manages applications and documentation for Venezuelan migrants, as indicated in its operational structure.
The dual role becomes evident in events like the “Hispanic Voices for Human Rights” summit, co-organized with Almagro at the OAS (2024), where Villalonga denounced the “suffering of migrants.” However, critics argue that her activism –focused on promoting migration as the only solution to the Venezuelan crisis– could help her business interests. “AMAVEX legitimizes the exodus as a solution, but its president monetizes the process,” accuses a source from the sector.
Neither Villalonga nor AMAVEX has addressed the conflict of interest between her activism and her private company, whose clients are, paradoxically, the same migrants she claims to defend.