Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If Venezuelan women were wearing hijabs and nikabs there would be an outcry of sympathy and support from western countries. We would be letting them in by the tens of thousands. We barely hear about this **** on the news here. Latin Americans are hated here in North America. Now Colombia has to deal with this all on their own.
There is definitely an uptick in refugee claims and asylum seekers to Canada in recent years.. Although the number is small, YOY we are seeing the number almost double. You are right though in that the numbers pale in comparison to the 40K Syrians we brought in in one fell swoop granting them Permanent Residency upon arrival. I'm married to a Venezuelan and i'd love to see Canada do something similar for that country as we did for Syria. It is odd because it is in the same hemisphere and as much as Canada says it wants to deepen ties with South America, when it comes to immigration and refugees we aren't really putting in a lot of effort. Too bad as well, they would contribute a lot to our society and deepen family and economic ties to nations we actually trade with substantively.
Anyway, my partner and I do our best to help his family out. We regularly send down care packages to help out. Things are SOOO expensive down there. A cheap towel here that would cost 2 or 3 bucks costs 10X the amount down there. You could spend a month's wages on just a few basic household items. Something like shampoo or deodorant would be a luxury now for most Venezuelans. Goods are available on the black market but too expensive for most locals to buy. I would imagine if people aren't rich there, the only way they can scrape by is by having family from outside Ven sending money and care packages like we are. Medication is hard to come by and a lot of people with serious but treatable medical condition are just not getting those meds so they are very sick and dying. It is heartbreaking really. One of my brothers in law has made the move to Colombia and other family members minus the parents are also considering getting out.
It really is a shame, Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. It would be a wonderful country to visit blessed with beautiful nature, beaches and biodiversity yet tourism is all but dead, even though it would bring in desperately needed funds - though would it really trickle down given the corruption and incompetence in governance. Crime is of course rampant. The perfect example of a how not to run a government is what has happened in Venezuela since Chavez, but at least Chavez had some competence. This guy Maduro is a total disaster. He has GTG.
A lot of Venezuelans come here to Spain. Latin Americans only have to live in Spain for two years to acquire Spanish citizenship. Probably Latin Americans are coming to other European countries (not sure in what numbers) but definitely here in Spain they have a growing presence.
I was actually considering visiting Venezuela until they recently had some sort of diplomatic fall out with Canada. Their only friends left are Nicaragua and Bolivia. Even Cuba seems to be distancing themselves from Madurro.
I was actually considering visiting Venezuela until they recently had some sort of diplomatic fall out with Canada. Their only friends left are Nicaragua and Bolivia. Even Cuba seems to be distancing themselves from Madurro.
The current regime in Venezuela is a horrible wreck. Maduro and Chavez took an oil rich nation and destroyed it. This should also teach people in Latin America to vote for military thugs.
I expect that those oil reserves are the key to rebuilding the economy.
Quite the opposite. Oil as an input to the global economy has been on the decline for the past 20 years or so, and the trend will continue.
In Venezuela, a bunch of thugs (color them with whatever ideology pleases you) seized the oil industry, wrung out of it what they could and wrought destruction on the rest in their wake.
But the previous regime also bears a large share of the blame, failing to develop a diversified economy and to meaningfully share the profits with at least 50% of the population (around 66% is ideal).
Rebuild with a sole asset declining in importance?
Quite the opposite. Oil as an input to the global economy has been on the decline for the past 20 years or so, and the trend will continue.
In Venezuela, a bunch of thugs (color them with whatever ideology pleases you) seized the oil industry, wrung out of it what they could and wrought destruction on the rest in their wake.
But the previous regime also bears a large share of the blame, failing to develop a diversified economy and to meaningfully share the profits with at least 50% of the population (around 66% is ideal).
Rebuild with a sole asset declining in importance?
Good Luck!
Chavez actually replaced all of the key people at PDVSA (the state oil company of Venezuela) with his cronies so the people with the technical know how to fix Venezuela's ailing oil industry are also coincidentally in the US (most likely living in Houston and working for companies like Exxon-Mobil and Shell). So Venezuela is going to have a tough time rebounding economically.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
