News Round Up from Venezuela

Taiwanese diplomats to leave Venezuela

Venezuelan visas for the members of a Taiwanese unofficial diplomatic delegation will not be renewed, reported Wednesday the website of a Taiwanese newspaper.

For its part, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted "unfriendly atmosphere" in Venezuela.

In addition, Taiwanese state oil company CPC Corp claimed that the Venezuelan government asked it to hand over its stake in two local deposits, AP quoted

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Venezuelan Politics

We Don't Care Where You're From

Teodoro Petkoff, the Editor of the TalCual newspaper published an article (it's an Editorial, of course, but writing "the Editor of TalCual wrote an editorial" doesn't sound nice) in which he criticized the Chávez movement of neo-racism. It seems that when the pamphlet-bearing youngsters were arrested, the interrogation was in the way of "where are your parents from?". In other words, the government wants to know if you are a "true Venezuelan" because if you or your parents are from abroad, then you're not.

First, let's start by saying (Petkoff said this too) that us Venezuelans have a long tradition of accepting people from wherever they come. Arabs, Jews, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, etc. have been received with open arms. Nobody asked "Tarek William Saab" if his name was Arab before voting for him to the Congress first and then to the Governorship of the Anzoategui state. There was another top Chávez official (a former Minister of Foreign Relations) with a very English name: Roy Chaderton. A leader in the "Alexis Vive" group (linked to the left, both figuratively and textually) is the son of an immigrant. In other words, the Chavista prosecution of sons of foreigners doesn't stand the smallest inquiry.

But there's something beyond the fact that we're all descendants of foreigners in a certain degree: the Cubans in Venezuela. The Venezuelan government pays Cuban nationals a salary in exchange for work done in the country that could be performed by Venezuelans. Part of that salary doesn't even go to them but to the Cuban government, that limits their freedom of living wherever they wish.

But since we're not racists, lets just say that our country loses dollars and the chance to reduce unemployment every time a Cuban medic or sports trainer (I've known good trainers and not-so-good ones) is hired. Xenophobic people that support the government tend to overlook this. They just make a big fuss when they spot a racist Chavez critic. The difference is that they're the ones that have the power to incarcerate people.

The nature of most Venezuelans is probably why Petkoff brushes off* this neo-fascist movement. Even so, we need to keep our eyes on this. Dictators just love to dictate (sorry) what is "local" and what is not.

Venezuelans, fleeing Chavez, seek U.S. safety net

MIAMI, July 16 (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 Sept. 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.

*snip*

"If you have young children, you want out. If you have assets that have been seized, or may be seized, you want out as quickly as possible," Roett added. "If you have land that will be expropriated, leave sooner than later. As the alta (upper) bourgeoisie becomes more and more of a target, you want to leave before Hugo Chavez shuts the door."

The number of U.S. asylum grants put Venezuela in 11th place, well behind nations such as its neighbor, Colombia, and deeply impoverished Haiti. But more Venezuelans were granted asylum last year than were natives of trouble spots like Iraq, a country reeling from nightmarish levels of violence.

Asylum is granted by the United States to people who are unable to return to their homeland because of credible fears of persecution. Cases may be filed by individuals or families.

The high rate of approval for Venezuelan asylum applicants has angered the Chavez government and those who see it as a back-handed stab by Washington at his socialist policies and defiant anti-Americanism. Venezuela today is not a despotic state, and granting Venezuelans asylum is a way to embarrass its government, they say.
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A colombo-americana's perspective