shiva2999
March 6th, 2007, 6:17:25 PM
Gee, Venezuela has lost it's gangsters, military fruitcakes and right=wing politicians to Florida. Now it's losing it's "professionals".
Poor Venezuela.
How will it cope with losing so many scumbag rip-off artists?
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070305/LOCAL/703050316/-1/news
Venezuelans eye Florida as safe haven from Chavez
The Associated Press
March 05. 2007 6:01AM
As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez further tightens control of the South American country's economy, wealthy Venezuelans who once thought they could live with his socialist edicts are turning to their backup plan - flight to the United States, particularly Florida.
Venezuelans have long gobbled up condos and pre-construction deals in Florida as investments, but the latest buyers want homes where they can live and business properties that will help them earn a green card.
"First the people who come are the businessmen in the highest circles, then the losing politicians, then the military and then the professionals,'' said Miami-based immigration attorney Oscar Levin. "You're beginning to see the (Venezuelan) professionals.''
This latest and largest potential group of emigrants say they fear the effect Chavez's socialist policies will have on the economy and on proposed educational reforms that could mirror the ideologically imbued education of Chavez ally and mentor, Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Between 2000 - a year after Chavez took office - and 2005, the number of Venezuelans living in the U.S. doubled to about 160,000, according to the latest U.S. Census numbers. Nearly half live in Florida.
But those numbers are deceptive.
In 2005, 10,645 Venezuelans received their green cards allowing them to live in the United States, almost doubling the 6,222 who got them in 2004.
Poor Venezuela.
How will it cope with losing so many scumbag rip-off artists?
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070305/LOCAL/703050316/-1/news
Venezuelans eye Florida as safe haven from Chavez
The Associated Press
March 05. 2007 6:01AM
As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez further tightens control of the South American country's economy, wealthy Venezuelans who once thought they could live with his socialist edicts are turning to their backup plan - flight to the United States, particularly Florida.
Venezuelans have long gobbled up condos and pre-construction deals in Florida as investments, but the latest buyers want homes where they can live and business properties that will help them earn a green card.
"First the people who come are the businessmen in the highest circles, then the losing politicians, then the military and then the professionals,'' said Miami-based immigration attorney Oscar Levin. "You're beginning to see the (Venezuelan) professionals.''
This latest and largest potential group of emigrants say they fear the effect Chavez's socialist policies will have on the economy and on proposed educational reforms that could mirror the ideologically imbued education of Chavez ally and mentor, Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Between 2000 - a year after Chavez took office - and 2005, the number of Venezuelans living in the U.S. doubled to about 160,000, according to the latest U.S. Census numbers. Nearly half live in Florida.
But those numbers are deceptive.
In 2005, 10,645 Venezuelans received their green cards allowing them to live in the United States, almost doubling the 6,222 who got them in 2004.