VENEZUELA: Venezuelan exodus triggered violence. Mariano
At first glance, Morales Luisalva not give the impression of being a threat to anyone.
soft-spoken and polite treatment, economist and university professor of 52 years is expressed as an urban contrast to the hostility prevailing in Venezuelan society since Socialism XXI Century polarized the country.
Yet Morales that was classified as an enemy of the revolution that President Hugo Chavez advances and harassment waged against left she did not have to abandon everything that had accumulated in a lifetime of effort to reach reach United States nothing.
Their crime? Tell who would listen that Venezuela had lost democracy.
"What they wanted was for me to shut my mouth, to stop saying that Chavez was a dictator," said Morales. "He said it in college. There, I said in my home, I said in the street, where he could, where the opportunity arose. "
can now only speak in Miami.
Morales, along with her husband and children, decided to leave the country in late 2009, after the murder of his brother and the beginning of a series of anonymous phone calls warning him that his turn had come.
As Morales, thousands of Venezuelans who have been forced to leave the country, persecuted, they argued, by violent groups close to the government that have undertaken the task of controlling the streets and infiltrate neighborhoods and intimidate those who dare to speak out openly against the government.
In the U.S., the number of people escapes in Venezuela has grown steadily since Chavez came to power in 1999, although the Venezuelan general do not like to emigrate.
legal residences that U.S. authorities granted to Venezuelans during the eighties barely topped 20,000. In the last decade the number was approaching 100,000.
The Justice Department's numbers also show that Venezuela was not seeking political asylum. In 2000, the U.S. only received 47 such applications by citizens of the South American country. For 2006, the number had soared to more than 1.000. But
exodus of immigrants to the United States is much higher and some estimates put the number of Venezuelans living illegally in the country where tens of thousands.
In Miami, Venezuelans fleeing Chavez have reached such a magnitude that have begun to exert some influence and local authorities are beginning to honor their contributions.
The mayor of Miami, Tomas Regalado, plans to designate April 13 as the Day of Venezuelan exiles, in a ceremony to recognize special circumstances that are forcing people to migrate from the oil-rich country, as Doral City did last year.
The selection of the day no es casual, comentó José Colina, presidente de la Organización de Venezolanos Perseguidos Políticos en el Exilio (Veppex), que organiza el evento y donde participarán otros grupos opositores venezolanos el miércoles a las 2 p.m. en la sede de la Alcaldía de Miami.
Ese día marca el retorno del mandatario venezolano al poder después de ser derrocado brevemente en el 2002 y el inicio de “un éxodo masivo de venezolanos en el exterior porque el gobierno de Chávez emprendió una persecución atroz contra todos aquellos que tenían una ideología distinta a la del gobierno”, señaló Colina.
Uno de ellos es Janette González.
La ejecutiva of a technology company had participated in several mass marches on the threshold of the events of April 2002, in which demonstrators were beaten and mistreated by members of the so-called Bolivarian Circles.
But it was a week that Chavez returned to power when she and her family became a specific target of the militants.
"One week after Chavez's return, they were organized and began the chase for the world," said Gonzalez. "They knew who we were and had to go out with an eye on the neck. You had to go a day here or there one day. "
According to Gonzalez, the persecution waged against him, was performed by individuals assigned to the Mayor of Guatire, a city located east of Caracas, who had been instructed to defend the revolution with arms. Many
moved through the area on bikes, from which they opened fire on suspected targets. The victims were registered in the statistics of the underworld, he said.
Once Gonzalez was ambushed when the car he was traveling with a coworker was intercepted by a group of motorized waiting in a dark stretch of road. Began to pass by to pursue the vehicle and opened fire on him.
Terrified, Gonzalez and his companion they hurried to a police booth, at which point the gunmen were returned.
On another occasion, the motor went to Gonzalez's house and shot at her while their children played outside. The pursuit lasted for a period of several months until the family decided to leave.
"I got sick with all these problems, I developed a high voltage problem, gave me an aneurysm in his arm was a lot of pressure. It was not an issue anymore and we had to leave, "Gonzalez said. Exit
meant leaving behind a comfortable life. Gonzalez earned an annual salary equivalent to $ 50.000. Her husband had his own business. They own homes, cars and travel three times a year.
"We had an established life and had to leave everything to come here with three bags," he said.
The merchant marine captain Simon Marval, was also forced to flee.
Marval, who in his spare time he was working to proselytize for the opposition, was the victim of an attack. Was traveling by car from Caracas to the coastal town of La Guaira, when the car was intercepted by two men traveling on a motorcycle and opened fire.
The captain and another officer who accompanied him were unhurt although the car was hit three times, but Marval was surprised to get to La Guaira.
"When I went to put the complaint in the shootings, a police officer called me and said that the characteristics of what he was talking, the attackers were police. 'You better go, he said, is Chavez' "he said Marval.
harassment continued throughout the next few years, to the extent that the captain was still doing work of proselytism, linked to the Alliance party to a Bravo Pueblo headed by leader Antonio Ledezma.
That work led him to meet with residents of poor neighborhoods to explain the contradictions of the political process forward by Chavez, an activity that was frowned upon by supporters of the government.
On another occasion, Marval was stopped in a parking lot by a group whose members said they were young Chavez and those waiting for him where he had parked his car. They beat him and while the captain was lying sprawled on the ground, one of them approached him and said: "This is for you to continue working against the commander."
incidents gave more strength to continue, said Marval, who despite knowing the risks he was convinced that without this type of activity Chávez would continue in power.
That changed when he returned home after spending more than a year captaining a ship for a German shipping company. It was in January 2010 and two days after arriving, he received a call that someone told him: "You came and you're leaving. If you want to stay alive, it is best that you go. "
The call was the turning point for the captain's family, whose wife and children were then required to receive counseling.
"Ten days [the call] was here in the United States without knowing exactly what was going to do, "he said.
Source: El Nuevo Herald - ANTONIO MARIA DELGADO.