Garcia: Aid those who fled Chávez

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: The Miami Herald

Cuban-American U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Miami, announced Monday that when the immigration reform debate begins in the House he will present an amendment that would grant permanent residence to tens of thousands of undocumented Venezuelans living in the United States.

“Many of these people have spent a big part of their lives here,” Garcia said at a press conference at his office in west Miami-Dade County. “Many are people who attend schools with our children, who are business partners with us and who live in a very difficult status and we want to give them a forward solution.”

Garcia’s Venezuelan Liberty Act is a response to requests from leaders of the growing Venezuelan community nationwide to provide immigration relief to undocumented Venezuelans, many of whom not only lack immigration papers but also fear they will be persecuted and tortured if they are sent back to their country.

Garcia’s proposal is the first concrete action in the form of a bill that would benefit Venezuelan immigrants who are in the country illegally and do not have a police record. If the proposal were to become law, it would grant green cards to Venezuelans who have arrived in the U.S. from Feb. 2, 1999, when Hugo Chávez took office as president of Venezuela, until now, according to an explanatory sheet from Garcia’s office.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/04/3267165/garcia-aid-those-who-fled-chavez.html

[formercia]

1. Why should the US be a haven for Reich-Wanker Assh0les?

...because the GOP needs the votes, that's why.

Nobody is being persecuted in Venezuela. Now that the Cuban population is mellowing-out, the GOP needs another Gang of Reich-Wankers to pander to.

[Grins]

5. Ummmm...Garcia is a Democrat.

...so sez' the article.

[Warpy]

28. Democrats can be WRONG about some things, yanno.

He's wrong about this issue.

[Judi Lynn]

33. He has never been a Democrat regarding any country in Latin America. Never. n/t

[Taverner]

52. Yep. Garcia has been Pro-Operation Condor to his bones

[MoclipsHumptulips]

56. Thank you Judi Lynn

your posts here are so good and important.

Your efforts are greatly appreciated and read and passed on as much as I can.

You make a difference.

[wordpix]

12. Didn't you see D-Miami after Garcia's name? Yah, I guess he's trying to get more Rs voting

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Perhaps expecting people to read the first sentence in an article is little too much

[formercia]

16. That's what he is doing

I don't care if he's a fuckin' Martian. What he is doing will hurt.

[Comrade Grumpy]

18. In this instance, the D appears to stand for "Demagogue."

Playing the well-worn anti-communist card.

[wordpix]

19. do you know anything about Chavez's Venezuela

I know a family that fled and I know why they fled. Chavez is not the perfect president some with blinders on would believe.

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. Why, yes I do. Thanks for asking.

I base my assessment on more than a family of disaffected expatriates.

[Judi Lynn]

22. One would surely hope! Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.

A lot of those clowns already had Florida homes, already, before 1999, anyway. 2nd or 3rd homes.

Right-wing, greedy halfwits. We don't need them here, by god.

[roody]

63. Why did they flee? Did they run or take a plane?

[idwiyo]

39. +1

[dbackjon]

26. If you say so.

Thank god Chavez is dead. Hopefully democracy will return to Venezuela

[Mutatis Mutandis]

34. "Hopefully democracy will return to Venezuela"

Ahh for the good old days of United Fruit Company gunboat 'democracy'!!Now, THAT was true freedom.

Keep on pushing to empiric yanqui line..................





The United Fruit Co.



When the trumpet sounded, it was
all prepared on the earth,
the Jehovah parcelled out the earth
to Coca Cola, Inc., Anaconda,
Ford Motors, and other entities:
The Fruit Company, Inc.
reserved for itself the most succulent,
the central coast of my own land,
the delicate waist of America.
It rechristened its territories
as the ’Banana Republics’
and over the sleeping dead,
over the restless heroes
who brought about the greatness, the liberty and the flags,
it established the comic opera:
abolished the independencies,
presented crowns of Caesar,
unsheathed envy, attracted
the dictatorship of the flies,
Trujillo flies, Tacho flies,
Carias flies, Martines flies,
Ubico flies, damp flies
of modest blood and marmalade,
drunken flies who zoom
over the ordinary graves,
circus flies, wise flies
well trained in tyranny.

Among the blood-thirsty flies
the Fruit Company lands its ships,
taking off the coffee and the fruit;
the treasure of our submerged
territories flow as though
on plates into the ships.

Meanwhile Indians are falling
into the sugared chasms
of the harbours, wrapped
for burials in the mist of the dawn:
a body rolls, a thing
that has no name, a fallen cipher,
a cluster of the dead fruit
thrown down on the dump.


Pablo Neruda

[Pterodactyl]

36. I agree! The US should not allow A-holes from other countries to live here.

They think they can waltz right in and be A-holes in our country! I say no way!

[Gman]

2. How to create an Hispanic voting block for the GOP made easy

This is so blatant it's ridiculous.

[hack89]

7. So why would a Democrat be proposing it? nt

[idwiyo]

40. DINO. Pure and simple.

[hack89]

41. The president seems to think highly of him.

In 2009, Garcia joined the Obama administration in a Senate-confirmed position as director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact for the Department of Energy.[2]

As director of the Office of Economic Impact, Garcia worked closely with small business owners to increase their participation in the energy sector. He focused on the cause of women and minorities within the federal government by partnering with minority serving institutions, like Florida International University. As head of the Civil Rights office, Garcia worked to ensure that institutions that received money from the federal government did not discriminate against women and minorities.[3]

During his tenure at the Energy Department, Garcia was also appointed by President Barack Obama to the Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status. On the Task Force, Garcia focused on lowering energy costs in Puerto Rico and pushed for renewable energy projects on the island of Vieques.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Garcia

[bitchkitty]

43. And that means exactly what, in this situation?

I guess Garcia could do just about anything and it would be okay with you because hey, Obama seems to like him!

Way to hold our government's feet to the fire, sweetie!

[hack89]

45. Because I don't expect DINOs to effectively work for the civil rights of minorities

Garcia did exactly that in a position the president nominated him for.

[idwiyo]

49. Have a look at post #30, explains a lot about this upstanding citizen.

[hack89]

50. So the President gave a member of a terrorist organization a high level job? Interesting. nt

[idwiyo]

51. Looks like he did...

[idwiyo]

46. And? President also seems to think that torturers should not be punished, war criminals should walk

free, whistleblowers should be thrown in jail for ever and ever and ever. Did I mention assassinations by drones without due process? Total surveillance? Chained CPI? Oh, how about his best friend ever Joe Lieberman, remember him? Just a few examples...

Do you believe I should agree with all of the above because Obama thinks its OK?

Do you?

[Ash_F]

65. These expats are dynastic land owning establishment types...

...from a part of the world that is still clawing its way out of the old lord-serf political system. These are the people on the fortunate side of the sharecropping, sweatshops and company stores.

To your question of 'why'; it's because those types of people exist in the Democratic party as well, particularly in large blue bastions like Miami. Money and power are intertwined. And if you want to maintain both, for you and your kin, then you do what you have to win in your environment.

[MADem]

29. No. It's enlarging the Democratic Hispanic voting block.

It may be blatant, but we'll get the votes.

[bitchkitty]

44. Yea, the Miami Cubans will fall all over themselves. n/t

[MADem]

64. Well, this proposed legislation isn't about them--and they're no longer the only game in town.

The Puerto Rican and other blocs grow by leaps and bounds each year. The Cubans no longer have a monopoly on hispanic culture in FL.

[geek tragedy]

3. If we're going to give amnesty to every Latin American undocumented

immigrant who faces the possibility of persecution and authoritarianism at home, I guess everyone but the Costa Ricans would be included.

[Bacchus4.0]

14. Immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicagragua, and Honduras are currently eligible

for Temporary Protection Status in the US.

[Judi Lynn]

32. Do you have a link for your information to share? Thank you. n/t

[tammywammy]

54. Here:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=848f7f2ef0745210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=848f7f2ef0745210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

[HelenWheels]

4. Richie Riches again

It isn't the common man that left Venezuela, it is the wealthy land owners that persecuted the poor. Send them back or make them pay a huge amount to stay here. I have little sympathy for them.

[Coyotl]

6. Oh great, a batch of rich assholes with no respect for democracy given special privileges, ergo Rs

A perfect bunch of Republicans, those who hate efforts to improve the lot of the majority.

[jwirr]

8. Didn't Standard Oil flea Chavez?

[Marksman_91]

9. I left (NOT FLED) Venezuela a couple of years ago.

I know some here in Miami who actually did flee the country out of persecution. And I must say, everyone of you guys is being utterly disrespectful. You personally don't know the reasons why many Venezuelans have fled the nation. In fact, the majority who left the country are not "richie riches", like some of you put it. There's over 100,000 Venezuelans in Florida alone, and I highly doubt they're all obscenely wealthy. Besides, this legislation is proposed for UNDOCUMENTED ones, do you honestly believe that those who are obscenely rich would be here without any documentation? They can easily obtain investor visas if they wanted. And also, for anyone who's calling this typical Republican legislative proposal, read the text again, Joe García is a DEMOCRAT.

[COLGATE4]

10. Don't confuse the Chavez idolators with facts. nt

[wordpix]

13. I know a family that fled b/c the head of household is involved in (free speech) media

and Chavez hates to be criticized. As a result, his gov. has taken over nearly all media in Venez. The media man had to flee for his life due to exercising his right of free speech, which is not a right in Chavez's Venez. The rest of the family followed after one member was kidnapped (not by Chavez' people, but due to the lack of general security in the country).

So much for Chavez the Great and Wonderful. He's a dictator and if he doesn't like your criticism, he will persecute.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. Taken over all the media?

Last time I looked, most of the media in Venezuela were in private hands.

[Ken Burch]

25. The only people who fled were right-wing extremists.

No one with progressive, humane, democratic ideas fled. No one who's against racism fled(there's no such thing as a black or multi-racial anti-Chavista).

[bitchkitty]

35. +1

[Marksman_91]

37. So I guess that means about 44% of the Venezuelan population are right-wing extremists...

I'm sure that all those nearly 7 million people who voted against the government last October are ALL rich fascists.



Things aren't simply black and white like that. Don't be so close-minded.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

38. Wow, interesting how everyone here is such an expert on Venezuela

(excepting yourself, Marksman_91, natch, and of course any other actual Venezolanos here, regardless of which side you fall on).
My sister's godfather is Venezuelan. He's rich, he hasn't left, but he does split his time between here and Venezuela. He befriended my dad many many years ago, when they were both in college. My dad was dirt poor at the time (I grew up in the projects in the Bronx, a stone's throw away from Sotomayor. Don't know her though). Made no diff to him. They became great friends, and of course as you can see he stood in as godfather to my sister. I haven't actually spoken to him in a long time, so I don't know what his opinion of Chavez is. But as you can see he hasn't left the country.
I also know a couple of other folks from there, expats. They left a long time ago, possibly even before Chavez, I'd have to ask them to make sure. They express universal disgust for the politics in that country.
How about y'all ditch the stupid stereotypes and start living in the actual real world? I can't believe I have to put up with this level of ignorance and ideological tripe on a Democratic board. I came here to get away from idiots who preconceive everything. Apparently they're all over the place.
To sum up: not every rich person's an asshole or worse, and not every Venezuelan who voted against Chavez or left the country because of him is some sort of right wing nutcase. Grow the f*ck up people. Sheesh.

[idwiyo]

42. It's a very well known fact in US that a large proportion of US population while dirt poor still

votes for Repubs. My educated guess is years of brainwashing, ignorance, disagreement due to religious beliefs, lots of other factors.

BTW, do you have a link showing socio-economic status of those 44% of Venezuelans? I am sure you agree it would be a great graph to have look at and great way for you to prove your point. Or not.

[Marksman_91]

58. Hope you know enough Spanish

Here's a socioeconomic breakdown of the population according to Datanalisis, probably the most reliable statistics organization in Venezuela:

http://www.eluniversal.com/2011/06/17/estrato-social-e-arropa-a-441-de-la-poblacion-venezolana.shtml

Here's an article explaining how socioeconomic classification works in Latinamerica, which is fortunately in English:

http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata200.htm

Socio-Economic Level "A"

Multimillionaires with inherited wealth

Owning rent-producing properties

Living in ostentatious luxury

Residences located in exclusive residential neighborhoods

Socio-Economic Level "B"

Multimillionaires

Owning rent-producing properties

Living in comfortable luxury

Residences located in exclusive residential neighborhoods

Socio-Economic Level "C1"

Living like a rich person, but not really so

Earning high salary at work

High-level executives or professionals at large firms

Living in as much luxury as salary allows

Same habits as Levels "A" and "B" for mass consumption

Different from Levels "A" and "B" in that they will be affected if they have to quit work

Members of first-class clubs and organizations

Children enrolled in first-class schools

Own or rent residence in residential zone

Socio-Economic Level "C2"

Living in comfortable style

Earning middle salary at work

Professionals, executives or employees of mid-sized businesses

Enjoy some of the nice things of life

Able to easily meet their primary needs

Live in detached house or modern building in middle-housing area

Socio-Economic Level "C3"

Social positions depend on economic situation

Able to enjoy some convenience but at the cost of economic sacrifice

Able to meet their primary needs

Employees of small business or informal company

Lower or middle income

Large family sizes

Live in heavily populated area

Live in apartment building or small detached houses

Socio-Economic Level "D"

Almost no convenience goods

Barely able to meet primary needs

Low-level worker at small company

Generally large family size

Living in heavily populated area or informal housing

Socio-Economic Level "E"

Unable to afford any product or service

Almost unable to meet their primary needs

No steady work

Generally large family size

Living in makeshift housing (of straw matting, cardboard, corrugated iron and boards) in marginal zones


The El Universal articles basically says that, according to the Datanalisis social director Luis Vicente León, the population in Venezuela is divided as follows:
Levels A-B: 2,31%
Level C: 17,6%
Level D: 35,9%
Level E: 44,15%

So yeah, supposedly anyone who is middle class and above encompass less than 20% of the population. I highly doubt the entire 44% of the electorate that voted against Chávez is composed of people from the A-C strata.

[idwiyo]

60. I will do my own research too. Sorry, when it comes to statistics I prefer to see the methology.

Hope they do publish it. Otherwise it's just a bunch of numbers without any way to verify them or even to make an educated guess about the validity of the data.

According to this article it's far from clear:

http://venezuelablog.tumblr.com/post/45757452358/analyzing-new-poll-numbers-from-datanalisis

Regardless, just like I pointed already, there are always people out there who would vote against their best interest, or try a protest vote (same result really).

[Ken Burch]

66. You'd have a valid point if all of those people had fled the country.

Instead, they accepted the result as legitimate and stayed.

[Taverner]

53. Yep

[MoclipsHumptulips]

61. +1 more.

[Tempest]

11. If it's good enough for Cubans, it should be good enough for Venezuelans. n/t

[Ken Burch]

24. Venezuela isn't Cuba.

And there isn't a progressive, humane alternative to the revolution in Venezuela...there's only restoration of the old order and permanent austerity.

[hughee99]

17. I think next time you might have to put the "D" after the name in giant bold letters,

to protect some DUers from themselves.

[idwiyo]

55. Have a look at post #30. Just because he has a D after his name doesn't mean he is one.

DINO.

[hughee99]

57. No, but with the "D" after his name, it's tough to site this as an example of the REPUKES

pandering for votes, which some people just assumed was what this was all about.

[idwiyo]

59. Agree, in this case it was a DINO pandering for votes. Damn shameful.

[Ken Burch]

23. Only white bazillionaires "fled Chavez"(and moving to a mansion in Miami isn't really "fleeing")

There's no such thing as a working-class capitalist conservative in Venezuela. Nor were there ever any anti-chavistas of color, because Chavez has led the first non-racist government in Venezuelan history.

Garcia just wants that country to be right-wing again...he doesn't give a damn about "democracy&quot and he doesn't give a damn about it in Cuba, either...like all the other exiles, he just wants the rich folks to be able to go home).

Disgusting.

It's never "liberal" to want a revolution stopped and the wealthy restored to power...when that happens, everything progressive and humane in a country stops...like it all did in Nicaragua in 1990, when the poor lost everything(I'm assuming you were a Contra supporter, Freddie).

[Cleita]

27. The only Venezuelans I have met in this country were pretty well off.

Of course the Cubans, who fled Castro, were also of the upper classes, so it stands to reason they would clump together.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Joe Garcia has been part of the Cuban American National Foundation for many, many years.

He's the spawn of "exile" escorria. His Wiki:

Jose Antonio "Joe" Garcia, Jr. (born October 12, 1963) is a Miami-based lawyer and the U.S Representative for Florida's 26th congressional district. The district includes most of western Miami-Dade County, as well as the Florida Keys. He is the former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation and was nominated by President Barack Obama to be director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact and Diversity of the United States Department of Energy, a position for which he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate.[1]

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Garcia

Cuban American National Foundation has been the perennial sponsor of Cuban "exile" mass murdering/bomber/CIA terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, among others.

[center]~~~~~[/center]
The Cuban-American National Foundation Is a Terrorist Organization
By Salim Lamrani

On July 22, 2006, the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF) celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Hotel Biltmore in Coral Gables. However, the most powerful US-based extreme rightist Cuban organization, shaken by a new scandal, could not enjoy that party appropriately.

In fact, a month earlier, on June 22, 2006, Jose Antonio Llama, a former CANF director, revealed publicly what everyone knew for a long time: the CANF is a terrorist organization. Llama acknowledged that he, along with members of the organization´s hierarchy, had set up a paramilitary group to carry out attacks on Cuba and to assassinate its president, Fidel Castro [1].

According to "Toñin", as his friends call him, the CANF had a cargo helicopter, ten ultra-light remote-controlled planes, seven boats, a Midnight Express speedboat and an unlimited amount of explosives. "We were impatient about the survival of the Castro regime after the demise of the Soviet Union and the socialist system. We wanted to speed up democratization in Cuba using any means to achieve it," he said [2].

The 75-year-old former director explained, without omitting a detail, his terrorist career. For example, he underlined that the plot to assassinate Fidel Castro, planned in 1997 with four of his accomplices, during the Ibero-American Summit on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, was frustrated due to the interference of Puerto Rican authorities when they were on his boat La Esperanza. He and his acolytes were tried and acquitted in December 1999 due to… lack of evidence [3].

After the trial, Llama distanced himself from the CANF, as the organization refused to pay for the legal expenses resulting from his trial and that of his partners. The revelations of this personage came to light as a result of a financial conflict with the Florida-based extremist organization. In fact, Llama accuses the CANF leaders of having embezzled 1.4 million dollars that he himself had contributed to set up the paramilitary wing. "Where are the boats and planes that I financed with my money? Where did they go? Who has the original titles?", he complained [4].

More:
http://www.zcommunications.org/the-cuban-american-national-foundation-is-a-terrorist-organization-by-salim-lamrani

[idwiyo]

47. K&R and Thank You!

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. Shouldn't they go back now?

You know, to take part in the democratic future of their country? That's what they want, isn't it?

[idwiyo]

48. Surely not. They are right where they always wanted to be and screw the home country!

[JackRiddler]

62. "Tortured" - !!!

These are not political refugees.

Venezuela is a democracy with guaranteed citizen rights and no record of torture.

The US, on the other hand, famously has trained torturers around the world, recently practiced it in an announced fashion, and now refuses to prosecute the perpetrators of these international crimes.

I dare say the greatest risk of being tortured for the group of undocumented workers from Venezuela comes from ICE, if it picks them up - solitary confinement for weeks is not unheard of. I hope Garcia will be introducing a bill banning such practices at ICE.