Posted on 03/09/2007 3:47:01 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
DORAL, Fla. -- They call it "Plan B."
As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 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 preconstruction 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 immigration lawyer Oscar Levin. "You're beginning to see the professionals."
This latest and largest potential group of emigrants say they fear the effect Mr. Chavez's socialist policies will have on the economy and on proposed educational reforms that could mirror the ideology of Mr. Chavez's ally and mentor, Cuba's Fidel Castro.
"There is so much insecurity, political insecurity, economic insecurity," said Venezuelan Miguel Medina, a business executive who moved to Miami in August. "You don't know if a contract you signed today will be honored by the government in the future. ... It was time to do the 'Plan B.' "
.....Those who can afford it often opt for business visas that require a minimum $500,000 investment in a company that creates jobs in an underdeveloped area of the United States.
About 33,000 Venezuelans received some kind of work visa to come to the United States in 2005 -- nearly a quarter of all such visas for South Americans -- compared to about 17,000 in 1999.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Mr. Chavez will address 40 organizations and an estimated 40,000 people at a soccer stadium on the banks of the La Plata River -- directly across from Uruguay, where Mr. Bush is scheduled to meet officials in the capital today.
Signs have been posted around Buenos Aires urging supporters to join "Comandante Chavez" in opposing Mr. Bush, whose free-trade message clashes with Mr. Chavez's mix of socialist concepts and nationalistic speeches.
..."I strongly believe that government-run industry is inefficient and will lead to more poverty," Mr. Bush said Wednesday in a swipe at his rival's penchant for nationalizing Venezuelan companies.
In Venezuela, meanwhile, U.S. companies ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp. agreed yesterday to meet a May 1 deadline decreed by Mr. Chavez to hand over some of their operations in the country to the state-owned oil company.
Mr. Chavez's alternative development model enjoys vibrant support among poorer Argentines, but the Venezuelan's presence in Argentina is causing consternation among critics of President Nestor Kirchner. ...***
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez answers questions during a January 2007 news conference soon after he labeled US President George W. Bush a "war criminal" in this handout photo from Presidencia. Bush criticized the economic model of his Venezuelan counterpart, saying it would lead to more poverty, on the eve of a tour of Latin America aimed at warning against the dangers of populism and isolationism.(AFP/HO/File)
Chavez is holding a copy of his recently minted Constitution for Venezuela.
Thank you for being on the job, AGAIN. We may not agree on candidates, but few can match your value to Free Republic. Memory fails me occasionally, but were you not in the lead on another menace to the planet, Robert Mugabe?
Interesting too that in New York, the highest gasoline prices in the state are at a Citgo station. He gives away low cost heating oil to the poor to make a political statement, then overcharges people for gasoline in the same geographical area.
boycott citgo
here's what the left wants you to do...
"Looking for an easy way to protest Bush foreign policy week after week? And an easy way to help alleviate global poverty? Buy your gasoline at Citgo stations.
And tell your friends. "
"Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor. The country is Venezuela. The President is Hugo Chavez. Call him 'the Anti-Bush.'"
boycott citgo now and forever
I don't buy Lukol (sp?) either.
GREAT!
MORE ILLEGALS!
Are we sure some of these people are no agents for Chavez/Al Queda/China trying to establish cells in the U.S.? The FBI should watch them very carefully.
Thanks for posting... Reminds me of "Galt's Gulch" (from Wikipedia):
Galt's Gulch
A secluded refuge in a valley of Colorado where the men of ability have retreated after relinquishing participation in American society. Nicknamed "Galt's Gulch" by its inhabitants, it is in fact the property of "Midas" Mulligan, one of the early strikers to follow John Galt's call. This call was to the great men of mind and action to abandon the increasingly slave-state inclinations of a decaying United States - to go on strike - thereby withdrawing the only thing supporting the parasites and looters.
Sarcastically nicknamed Midas in the press because everything he seemed to touch turned to gold, Mulligan adopted the nickname during his explosive investment career before dropping out of sight. He had purchased this land among his far-ranging speculative endeavors, and subsequently retreated to it upon his disappearance. Other strikers soon followed him there, including John Galt, renting or buying land for summer retreats as a respite from continuing their search for fellow strikers among the increasingly collapsing American society. Eventually, a society develops in Galt's Gulch as more people live there year-round as the outside world becomes virtually unsafe to visit.
We are introduced to Galt's Gulch in the final section of the Novel, in the first chapter, entitled Atlantis. The people live with each other in completely free society and embody everything which is the thesis of the Novel, the appropriate values for a society of Mankind: philosophical, moral, economic, legal, aesthetic, and sexual, among others too numerous to mention.
We find industrious, ambitious, happy people continuing their chosen fields of endeavor without the yokes of any taxation or regulation. Conversely, there is a reverence for private property; everything transacted is paid for with the re-invented currency of solid gold coin struck from the reserves of Midas Mulligan's bank which now resides in the valley. The townspeople receive services from the various heroes we have met throughout the Novel, who all now reside and produce in the valley. They purchase power inexpensively from Galt and his invention of the static electricity motor, maintain their anonymity from the outside world via Galt's invention of the air-wave reflection device (giving the view from above the camouflage of reflected images of other mountainsides nearby), and some attend Galt's lectures on Physics, where he explains his discoveries on new fundamental laws and applied mathematics. The people purchase medical treatment from the care of Dr. Hendricks, who uses his invention of a portable X-ray machine to initially diagnose Dagny Taggart upon her crash landing into the valley, attend concerts of new musical compositions of Richard Halley who has continued to compose in the Valley, acquire raw materials from the efforts of Francisco D'Anconia's excavations around the valley, attend philosophy lectures from the now-retired pirate Ragnar Danneskjöld, receive loans from Midas Mulligan, etc.
How interesting.
The brain drain begins.....
Why the HELL should we let them in? They did not resist evil, let them pay the price! Let them flee to somewhere else.
If I read correctly, this article refers to those legally applying to come here. I say don't let them in; they made their beds...
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Chavez was clever, he slowly turned up the heat - now the pot is about to boil.
I'm sure Al and Hugo would get along great - same with Hillary, Obama, Richardson and the Breck Girl.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.