Revista Temas de Derecho Constitucional

151 La concesión de asilo como mecanismo de paz y desafíos recientes dentro del procesamiento de casos de asilo de los solicitantes venezolanos en Canadá y los Estados Unidos • Sense of control: persons take steps (even if ineffective or counterproductive) to reduce risk • Risk tolerance: person may underestimate risk and delay flight, others will leave at first indication of danger • Optimism bias: persons rate own risk lower than that of others • Outcome history: survival of prior risk may reduce reaction to subsequent risk- overconfidence • Place attachment: persons refuse to leave in spite of risk • Lay knowledge: informal channels of information on how to survive risk • Non-embodied risks: separation from family, economic status, cultural identity as a result of migration weighed against other risk • Passivity: downplay the ability to control a situation, precaution, abandonment, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Rape Trauma Syndrome • Defiance: refusal to adapt behavior in relation to risk • Faith: belief that a Higher power will protect • Delay in decision making under stress Immigration judgeswhomaybepressured toprocess caseseffectivelymay fail to identify plausible explanation for contradictory behavior on the part of asylum applicants and hence summarily issue adverse credibility determinations. Credibility Fatigue The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has a guidebook on credibility assessments within EU asylum determination which states that fear and lack of trust by applicants may inhibit their disclosure of facts, in part to protect friends, relatives, associates left behind in the country of origin, and this may be further complicated by cultural miscommunication regarding time, distance, and location. 8 The guide also sets forth that caseworkers/immigration judges themselves may suffer from “credibility fatigue”, disbelief as a coping mechanism, and excessive emotional detachment rendering decision-making convoluted. A case indicating possible credibility fatigue on the part of the immigration judges involved a Venezuelan woman who sought asylum in the United States, Duannie G. Bello Vallenilla v. US Attorney General , No. 17-10263, 724 Fed. Appx. 889, 11 th Cir. (March 2, 2018). Vallenilla fled from Venezuela because she believed that her life was in danger because of the Tupamaros. She had worked as a journalist for the website La Patilla since 2010. She was a member of two political organizations, Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular . She worked as a volunteer for Voluntad Popular , handing out fliers, gathering information, and organizing for the opposing party leader and candidate for 8 Beyond Proof, Credibility Assessments in EU Asylum Systems (UNHCR/European Refugee Fund of the European Commission May 2013) available at: https://www.unhcr.org/51a8a08a9.pdf