Posted on 03/30/2008 8:12:03 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
WASHINGTON — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his dream of "21st century socialism" have spurred thousands to leave the South American nation, slowly creating a middle- and upper-class diaspora in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.
Unlike most migration patterns in the Americas, departing Venezuelans are not motivated primarily by current economic frustration. Instead, they are fleeing government policies that they fear could threaten private property ownership, restrict economic opportunities, lead to job losses and provoke regional conflicts, according to analysts, polls and interviews with people leaving.
Manuel Corao, who runs a newspaper serving the Venezuelan community in Miami, estimates that about three Venezuelans a day arrive in the Miami area intending to stay.
"They fear the Chávez government; they fear communism and the dictatorship. It's terrible," said Corao, who came from Venezuela 11 years ago.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the number of green cards — or permanent legal resident visas — given to Venezuelans in the U.S. has more than doubled during this decade. In 2006, 11,341 were issued to Venezuelan citizens, up from 4,693 in 2000, the year after Chávez came to power.
Thousands more Venezuelans are in the U.S. on business, tourist and student visas, and others are in the country illegally, experts say. The Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, estimates that 157,977 Venezuelan-born people lived in the U.S. in 2006, including naturalized American citizens.
Others are moving to Canada, Spain, Australia, Panama, Portugal and other countries.
"It's not purely a matter of getting better incomes for your work in foreign countries, but an expectation problem," said Ricardo Villasmil, a professor of economic development at the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. "They're hoping for happiness as a whole, peace, liberties and safety."
The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington declined requests for an interview.
Chávez came to power in 1999 and was re-elected in 2000 and 2006. His administration has promoted socialist policies with an emphasis on anti-American rhetoric and is close to the Castro regime in Cuba. Last year, Chávez nationalized the petroleum, communications and electricity sectors. He has indicated he intends to continue to centralize power.
The domestic economy is plagued by high inflation and a shortage of goods, including basic foods.
In 2007, inflation was about 22 percent. Over the past year, prices have increased by more than a third on such staples as sugar, rice, black beans, pasta, bread and milk.
In Caracas, Alejandra Gonzalez said she was leaving Venezuela because she feared for her 2-year-old daughter.
"We have a house, jobs, cars here, but we don't have what we need, that is peace and opportunities," she said. "I don't know if my apartment will be taken away from me in the future or not. There is legal insecurity here."
Freelance journalist Sandra La Fuente Portillo contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela.
It’s all about the tagline.
The future of rat control here is Venezuela. Although the rats will never seize the kind of dictatorial powers that Chavez has, their policies will have a simillar impact. Many wealthy have already fled. Many more wealthy will flee in the next 10 to 15 years after the rats gain firm control and the full impact of their policies is known.
The best and the brightest are fleeing Venezuela.
Thsi is a colossal blunder on the socialists’ part, driving away incalulable riches in human capital: the entrepreneurs, the technicians, the professionals, the scientists, the doctors.
But hey, their loss. Welcome to Freedom, my Venezuelan brothers and sisters!
Just don’t flee to Cuba or California. They want to go to a free country!
We should be agressively wooing their petroleum and natural gas engineers. And, uh, pageant contestants.
Or at least to MY embracing hug.
ping to post 8!
Someone should interview that Stalin-wannabe Sean Penn and get his reaction.
Here we go again (grin). FR Dating Thread in 5...4...3...
What is it about the weekends? So many single men surfing FR on (oh, wait).
Good going, Chavez, you idiot. Leftists, particularly Leftist dictators like Chavez, always are a degenerative force on the countries they rule.
“I wonder if these are the same people who voted for Chavez in the first place.
And now they’re coming here. Like Liberals screwing up a city, then moving
because they can’t afford it and starting over in another.”
Nah, I didn’t think so either.
THIS was published in the Austin-American Statesman?
Wow, I guess a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then...
Now *that* is one beautiful young lady.
Several typical Venezuelan pagent winnerss. These beauty queens tend to be pure Spanish.
Innocent...forever.
Innocent...forever.
That being said, most of the Venezuelans in South Florida are white collar. They don't call Weston "Westonzuela" for nothing.
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