MIAMI (Reuters) – A surge in the number of Venezuelans seeking asylum in the United States has some drawing parallels with Communist Cuba in the early 1960s.
As populist President Hugo Chavez tightens his grip on the world’s fifth largest oil producer, wealthy and middle class citizens are fleeing, just as their counterparts did soon after Fidel Castro seized power in Havana more than 40 years ago.
In 1998, the year Chavez was first elected, just 14 Venezuelans were granted U.S. asylum. That number jumped to 1,086 in the 12 months ending September 30, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The Venezuelans seeking asylum are just a small part of a big exodus, according to Venezuelan activists in Florida, who say some 160,000 Venezuelans are living in the United States illegally or on overstayed visas.
Critics of Chavez say that could mushroom as the Venezuelan leader, who dismisses his critics as “terrorists” and “fascists,” pursues his vision of a 21st Century socialist revolution. (more…)
So what you are left with is a nation full of poor folks who have now become more dependent on government to take care of them (since it is the middle and upper class who usually provides non-governemental employment). Once again history repeats itself.
Well, at least Danny Glover is getting $18 million out of it with his upcoming Hugo-funded film Toussaint.
I want to make sure folks remember ALL OF THIS because in about twenty years their kids will be wearing Hugo Chavez shirts with 0 knowledge of the man and his policies.
Click on the link below to see all postings related to this sad trend in Venezuela.
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