Venezuelan Americans make their way into U.S. political arena
Venezuelans in the United States, many of whom for years clung to the belief that they would return to their lives in their homeland, have unpacked their suitcases, acquired U.S. citizenship and begun to participate more actively in the American political landscape, seeking to raise their voices to an influential decibel, much like Cuban Americans, according to experts.
The Venezuelan community has more candidates taking part in the 2020 elections, compared to previous races, who are seeking mayoral or commission seats in various cities not just in South Florida but also in Texas and other places in the United States. The community also has established a number of organizations to flex its political muscle.
Political strategist Evelyn Pérez-Verdía said that the so-called “packed suitcase” mentality among Venezuelans has for years kept many from getting involved with politics because they fully expected to return to their country.
That has changed.
“Cubans have already gone through that,” said Pérez-Verdía. “Many Venezuelan Americans have begun to unpack their suitcases and realize — just like the Cubans and many Venezuelan-American strategists involved with the Democratic and Republican parties — that it is important have a voice.”
The Cuban-American community has voted in members of Congress from both parties who are influential in U.S. policy toward Cuba. That community also is represented by legislators at both the state and local levels.
Pérez-Verdía said it is important for Venezuelans to raise their political profile especially in cities where the vote can have an impact. Florida, for example, is home to about 200,000 residents who emigrated from Venezuela, including about 50,000 who are U.S. citizens and can cast a ballot.
Between 2000 and 2017, the Venezuelan population in the United States increased a whopping 352 percent, largely due to a mass exodus out of a country in the midst of an economic meltdown and continuing political turmoil. The population increased from 93,000 to 421,000 during that period and 34 percent are U.S. citizens, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the U.S. Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau.
An estimated 52 percent of Venezuelan nationals live in Florida, 11 percent in Texas and four percent in New York, according to the Pew report.
More Venezuelans are making their way to Mexico border to try to get into the U.S.
“When you see that a presidential election can be lost or won by more than about 100,000 votes,” Pérez-Verdía said, “Venezuelans know that they can have great influence. I think they have taken a lot of lessons from Cubans, from their participation in politics, and realize that they, too, have a voice.”
President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection, and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, seem to know it, too. They spend considerable time wooing Venezuelan Americans from South Florida when they travel through the region. Some Cuban-American politicians also pursue the Venezuelan American vote.
Opening paths
Ernesto Ackerman, president of the Miami-based Independent Venezuelan-American Citizens (IVAC), said the organization determined in the 2004-2005 election cycle that Venezuelans had to follow in the same path as Cubans by participating in U.S. politics so that the the community also could benefit from having elected representatives in office.
“I think that at last the Venezuelan community is realizing that we live here in the United States and that we have to worry, in addition to our country, about the situation and what is happening in the U.S. with taxes, the price of gasoline, our children’s education,” Ackerman said. “It is important and it is very good that there are people in the community who are seeking political seats.”
In South Florida, actor Víctor Cámara is running for mayor of Doral and Oscar Puig and Juan Carlos Esquivel are competing for city council seats. Doral already had the first Venezuelan-American mayor, Luigi Boria (2012-2016).
Oscar Ganem, an attorney, had tried to run for a Republican seat in the Florida Legislature but was disqualified because he could not raise enough funds for the campaign.
“The fundraising could not be done due to the coronavirus pandemic and that is a very important factor in an election campaign,” Ganem told el Nuevo Herald. “Another reason was that a lobbying office filed a complaint about one of the documents that I sent to Tallahassee. They called me on the last day of registration on July 12, with three hours remaining to close the process.“
Ganem was seeking the seat for District 104, which encompasses Weston, Southwest Ranches and Pembroke Pines in Broward County. He plans to try again in two years. He had run for that seat in 2016 but lost to Democratic candidate Richard Stark.
“I offer myself as the anti-communist voice in the Legislative Assembly,” he said. “I want to prevent communism from coming to Florida, to the United States, as it did in my country. That is the reason why I want to be a legislator in the state of Florida.”
SouthCom says it’s ready for anything in Venezuela
Among other Venezuelan-American candidacies is that of Samuel Vilchéz Santiago, who is participating in the Democratic race for Florida House District 48 in Orlando.
In Texas, Orlando Bruzual is running for a seat on the Pearland City Council as an independent candidate.
Ackerman said that the first Venezuelan-American candidate to win an election in South Florida was Enrique García as a Key Biscayne council member for the 2010-2012 term. He later observed as political organizations, founded by other Venezuelan Americans, began to emerge between 2016 and 2017.
Democrat Carlos Pereira, president of the Venezuelan American Democratic Club of Miami, ran for a seat in the Florida Legislature in 2014 but was defeated by Republican Carlos Trujillo, who is of Cuban descent.
Gustavo Garagorry, a member of Councilman Pete Cabrera’s team in the city of Doral, chairs the Venezuelan American Republican Club of Miami-Dade.
There is also the Venezuelan American Alliance (VAA), based in Weston, which pushed for the creation of the Venezuelan Democracy Caucus in 2019 in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress to support freedom and democracy in Venezuela.
They left Venezuela with dreams. They were met with forced prostitution — and death
“I think that we must fill spaces in this country so that the voice of the Venezuelan people is heard,” said Garagorry. “The Mexican, Dominican, Asian, and Cuban communities are well represented. Why not start opening paths within a diaspora that is some 20 years old? I think that is the most immediate way to get more effective help for both Venezuelans in Venezuela and those who live in the United States.“
Garagorry said that if the Venezuelan community had a representative or senator in office there would be more power to lobby in Washington. That is what is motivating the political groups that exist in Washington, Texas, Miami, New York and Boston.
An agenda takes root
Leopoldo Martínez, a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and co-chair of the Hispanic Caucus, said that when one has spent so many years in a country and citizenship is acquired, people begin to face not only the problems of the diaspora but also those faced by any middle class American. That links them to an entire ecosystem of organizations and diverse groups and it is from there that an agenda takes root.
His activism is propelled by two agendas: Staying involved with issues in the United States as an American citizen and raising awareness about the continuing crisis in Venezuela.
“That led to political relationships that got me to work in the campaign of former President Barack Obama in 2012 and in the 2016 elections,” Martínez said from Washington. “Then we created the Latino Victory Project and one of the objectives was to see how to increase the political representation of Latinos in the United States.”
While the Venezuelan-American vote is not yet large compared to other groups, Martínez said it is concentrated in an important geographic area.
“With that they have an influence on the margins of the election,” he said. “If there are between 8,000 to 12,000 votes in the entire area of southeast Florida, Miami, Doral, where those votes go in a state like Florida — which is won and lost by a difference of 20,000 to 30,000 votes — then they acquire relative importance for its impact on a particular race.”
