Exiled Venezuelans living in South Florida are seeing something new in their
homeland: Young faces leading street demonstrations against leftist
President Hugo Chávez.
''They have finally awakened,'' said Patricia Andrade, head of the
Venezuelan Awareness Foundation in Miami-Dade,
referring to the crowds of college students who have staged five days of
civil disobedience in the streets of Caracas.
''This is totally new. Venezuelan kids have never turned against Chávez,''
she said. ``I'm glad, but I pray for them, too.''
BEHIND THE OUTCRY
It took Chávez's pulling the plug on the country's most popular
television station, Radio Caracas Televisión, on Sunday to spark
young Venezuelans' ire.
The station was the oldest and one of only two that oppose Chávez.
He refused to renew their broadcasting license, saying that it
conspired to destabilize his government and practiced
``coup-plotting.''
Since RCTV went black on Sunday, clashes between police and
students, who have been sprayed with water hoses and shot with
rubber bullets, have dominated the news. No one has been killed.
From her Miami-Dade
home, Andrade has been glued to cable television and Internet
news from Venezuela
and has watched the youthful uprising grow with both pride and
dread.
As a show of solidarity, she took part in a rally that
attracted around 80 people outside a Venezuelan eatery in
Doral on Wednesday night. More are planned for the coming
days.
''I think these are kids without a political point of
view, but closing the station really upset them,'' she
said. ``This was the first television station in the
country. We were raised on it.''
RCTV, which had been on the air since 1953, has a
typical lineup of entertainment soap operas and news
shows.
As days pass and street clashes escalate, Andrade
fears a civil war may break out -- with the students
on one side and Chávez supporters on the other. In
his latest speech, Chávez called for his backers to
suppress the students. There could be bloodshed, she
fears.
''I'm beginning to worry for these kids. We need to
get protection for them from abroad,'' Andrade said.
Ernesto Ackerman, president of the local
Independent Venezuelan American Citizens, agreed
and said the young demonstrators may add fuel to
the opposition now that they have seen the real Chávez.
''He has taken his mask off for all the world to
see,'' he said.
''We needed young people, who have been
apathetic, to join this fight. I think they
were waiting for an opportunity, and when they
realized it had arrived, they have come out in
throngs.'' With upheaval in their country,
Ackerman foresees many Venezuelans attempting
to flee, likely for South Florida.
''Everyone is scared about this situation
when they hear of the Chavistas shooting''
rubber bullets at students, Ackerman said.
``I definitely think a lot more people are
going to want to come to the United
States, but we must not forget
those who are staying and fighting for the
sake of democracy.''
LOCAL POPULATION
Already, there are an estimated 50,000
Venezuelans living South Florida. The
number of asylum claims has risen
dramatically in recent months.
Investors, too, are now fleeing the
country.
Teresa Sarmiento, who was among the
demonstrators in Doral, said things
have to change.
''The Venezuelan people can't
continue to live under this
uncertainty. Our future is at
stake. A foreign model, Cuba's, is
being forced on us which has
nothing to do with our reality,''
she said.
Outside of Cafe Canela,
a popular Venezuelan eatery in
Weston, getting a heaping plate
of white rice and
carne
asada wasn't the only thing
on the minds of customers during
lunchtime.
Venezuelan visitor Olinda
Maestre said that despite news
footage of volatile protests
in the streets of Caracas,
she did not think the
temperament was the same
throughout the country.
''The whole country isn't
like this,'' Maestre said.
``In Caracas,
Valencia
and Maracaibo there's a
lot of uproar, but if you
look outside of these
cities, people are
relatively calm. I live in
Oriente, and every now and
then we realize what's
going on because of the
news. If not, we wouldn't
even notice.''
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