Funny how everyone loves a Socialist dictatior (get used to it folks I can call him that until June 2008 and I'm gonna milk it) until they have to live under him...Middle-class Venezuelans are queuing to leave the country amid fears that its president, Hugo Chavez, is laying the ground for a dictatorship.
Hugo Chavez said that he intended to nationalise the telecommunications and electricity industries
Hugo Chavez said that he intended to nationalise the telecommunications and electricity industries
Opponents of his "20th century socialism" are so desperate to escape that they have resorted to learning new languages and tracking down long lost European relatives in the hope of securing a visa.
At the US Embassy, visa enquiries have almost doubled in recent weeks, from 400 to about 800 a day. "There are normal spikes toward Christmas or another major holiday, but this increase doesn't fall into that category," said embassy spokesman Brian Penn.
The British embassy has seen a similar rise in numbers. "It has been increasing for some time, but what's different now is the tone of desperation," said a British spokesman.
A website for would-be emigrants - mequieroir.com (I want to leave.com) - reports that since Mr Chavez's December 3 election victory, and his announcement last month that he would nationalise the telecommunications and electricity industries, the number of daily visits it receives has soared from 20,000 to 60,000.
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"You're getting more families, who are worried about their children's futures," said Esther Bermudez, who runs the site.
At the Italian Culture Institute, registration for Italian language classes is up 20 per cent year on year. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have Spanish, Italian or Portuguese relatives who emigrated there after the Second World War.
Ernestina Hidalgo, 40, whose husband is a Spanish citizen, said that she was hoping that their two teenage children would also be granted Spanish citizenship. She said an "enabling law", passed by the National Assembly 10 days ago, granting Mr Chavez 18 months of rule by decree, was the final straw.
"Chavez doesn't accept political dissidence," said Mrs Hidalgo. "Why do they need an enabling law if they already have an absolute majority in the National Assembly?"
The enabling law gives Mr Chavez free rein over 11 strategic policy areas, including defence and energy. In January, Mr Chavez said that he intended to nationalise the telecommunications and electricity industries, as well as take a larger share of oil operations in the Orinoco River belt, which produces 600 billion barrels per day.
He has also said he will not renew the broadcasting license of RCTV, an opposition TV channel.
Outside the Spanish consulate last week, Dayana Ramirez, 20, whose paternal grandmother is Spanish, queued with her boyfriend Jose Antonio Barreiro, 24, as he waited to pick up his passport. She wants to acquire Spanish citizenship and the couple hopes to emigrate to Galicia in northwestern Spain.
"Older people leave because they are concerned about the future of their families," said Mr Barreiro, a graphic designer, "and younger people like us leave because there is no future."
As the world's fifth largest oil exporter, Venezuela has benefited from record oil prices, boosting the scope for Mr Chavez's social spending. Among his poor supporters, he is seen as a politician who acts on his rhetoric.
The National Assembly ceded its legislative function to Mr Chavez in a special session in the Plaza Bolivar in Caracas. In a show of the political participation that Chavez champions, government supporters gathered and raised their hands along with legislators when the law was voted on. "Approved unanimously, including the vote of the people," declared Assembly president, Cilia Flores.
But critics argue that Chavez is only interested in keeping power, not in sharing it
I am of course refering to the crowds that appeared to cheer him on his world tour like the ones in Britian.
