Florida Continues To Be A Refuge For Rich Latinos Fleeing Their Pinko Presidents

The New York Times has a story today about the influx of middle and upper-class Venezuelans moving into Florida since Hugo Chavez’s rise to power:

According to census data, the Venezuelan community in the United States has grown more than 94 percent this decade, from 91,507 in 2000, the year after Mr. Chávez took office, to 177,866 in 2006. Much of that rise has occurred in South Florida, making the Venezuelan community one of the fastest growing Latino subpopulations in the region this decade. In many ways, the Venezuelan influx is reminiscent of the Cuban migration spurred by Fidel Castro’s overthrow of Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and his imposition of a socialist state.

One of the interesting things about people who flee socialism–they usually have bags of money. Which is great for South Florida.

“One of the interesting things about South Florida is that when Latin America is doing well, we do well,” said Israel Kreps, who handles public relations for Mercantil Commercebank, a Venezuelan-owned bank based in Coral Gables. “When Latin American is doing badly, we do well.”

Everybody wins! (Well, except for the poor people.) But bags of money do not remove the sting of homesickness for a rich, lonely Venezolano. For that there is El Arepazo:

El Arepazo [is] a small cafeteria-style Venezuelan restaurant attached to a Citgo gas station in Doral.

“For a while you may forget about Chávez, forget about Miami, you’re drinking your beer, you’re insulting everybody, you’re having fun,” said [Daniel Garcia, 34, an events promoter in Miami], “It’s a way to forget about everything.”

We find donating to upstart Latino blogs that insult everybody is a great way to forget about everything, too.

Rise of Chávez Sends Venezuelans to Florida [NY Times]
Alex Quesada for The New York Times [Image]