Wednesday, January 23, 2008 3:34 PMBy: Newsmax Staff
President Hugo Chavez’s imposition of a socialist state in Venezuela has driven an increasing number of his countrymen to leave their homeland and settle in Florida.
The Venezuelan community in the U.S. has grown more than 94 percent during this decade, from 91,507 in 2000 — the year after Chavez took office — to 177,866 in 2006, according to U.S. Census data.
Many of those Venezuelans have settled in South Florida, the closest U.S. point to their former country and already the home of a substantial Hispanic community.
So many Venezuelans have moved to Weston, Fla., a suburb west of Fort Lauderdale, that some are calling it Westonzuela, the New York Times reported.
Most of the latest arrivals are from the middle and upper classes in Venezuela as Chavez has consolidated his power and sought to impose greater state control over many parts of the economy. Some have established legal residency, while others are in the U.S. illegally.
Labels: Illegal Invasion, Latin America, Socialism, Venezuela
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