John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Venezuela
Push Factors and Migration
“Los colectivos la mataron”, Friends and family of the model and activist Genesis
Carmona gathered around in her funeral and explained to The Washington Times they believed
military officials ended the life of Carmona on February 19, 2014. According to this article, “Los
Colectivos” are known to be the military in charge of “La Oposicion” or the opposition against
the socialist Venezuelan government. In addition, Carmona’s case has been one of the thousands
of victims that were involved in violent methods used by the military. The Venezuelan militia
has been in charge of using excessive force by incarcerating individuals who have different
political views about their government. Venezuela has been affected by violence, poverty and
violation of human rights against individuals, and these push factors caused involuntary
migration of people to other nations in recent times. My position on this matter is against the
socialist government of Venezuela because I believe people lost their basic human rights to have
the freedom of speech. In addition, their political opinions eventually lead them to get
incarcerated or murdered. However, the purpose of my research paper is to find information on
whether Venezuelans migrate in larger numbers or support the Venezuelan government. I have
witnessed in the news ever since I was a child, the mistreatments individuals had to face under
Hugo Chavez’s regime, and the opposition always protesting for a change. Subthemes such as
murder, robbery, and kidnapping are all part of a larger theme which involves violence. Another
example of sub-themes includes hunger, inflation, and unemployment under a greater issue
which causes poverty. Lastly, subthemes such as losing the freedom of speech poor health care
and food shortages are just a few human rights violations caused by the Venezuelan government
against their citizens.
However, the current government of Venezuela under Nicolas Maduro is just another
continuation from the mistreatments caused by Hugo Chavez during the late 1990’s.
As mentioned before, throughout my research I will collect much information possible on cause-
effect arguments and provide evidence to support my position. And points of destination where
Venezuelans migrate and statistics. Once again, Venezuelans face push factors such as violence,
poverty, and violation of human rights causing involuntary migration of individuals to other
nations in recent times.
Christopher Columbus discovered America as we all know by the end of 1400’s
navigating for Spain in La Santa Maria. Venezuela was discovered by Columbus on his third trip
to South America. In addition, I was able to find that the first colony ever claimed by the
Spaniards in 1522 was Nuevo Toledo. The first migration movement in Venezuela was found
during colonial times. This involuntary migration process was due to a slave labor demand in
Panama needed by Spain. Therefore, they decided to capture individuals and sent them as slaves
to Central America for free labor. Fast forward to 1810, Venezuela became the first American
colony to declare independence from Spain. However, in the 1820’s, Venezuela eventually
joined “La Gran Colombia” alongside Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. Lastly, Venezuela’s
“Country Watch”, an organization responsible for recording numbers, history, and annually
updated information on countries, stated that the separation of La Gran Colombia occurred in
1831. Furthermore, during the nineteenth century, Venezuela was governed by military-
totalitarian leaders until 1958. However, after the end of General Marcos Perez Jiménez regime,
he introduced voting elections allowing citizens to enforce their democratic rights. The creation
of two political parties was created during this period of time. One of these political parties was
named COPEI (Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente) and also AD (Acción
Democrática). Although voting elections were created to provide citizens with a choice, these
political parties were not taken seriously because whoever won the election had a great amount
of power on people’s lives. Generally speaking, Venezuela is known for having great quantities
of petroleum and given that fact, one would imagine this country is extremely wealthy and
successful. However, this do not apply to this country because the government owns everything
similarly to Cuba. Fast forward to late 1990, Hugo Chavez Frias became president of Venezuela
on February 2nd, 1999. One of his biggest promises while he campaigned consisted on ratifying
the Constitution. The new Constitution prohibited Congress from passing laws and allowing
Chavez to fire judges in order to replace them for judges on his favor. Although Chavez’s
relationship with Fidel Castro was controversial, Venezuelans agreed to ratify the Constitution
after all. How does migration start taking place during Hugo Chavez regime? This all began
during the first year of his presidency (Country Watch, 2016).
For instance, during the president’s first year in office crime rose up dramatically because
as this article states, “Crime was on the rise in urban centers in 1999 and 2000, especially in the
capital city of Caracas. Venezuela ranked sixth place in the world in 1999 for the number of
deaths by violence” (Country Watch, 2016). These statistics are alarming since the government
was going through struggles such as poverty and this factor causes individuals to involve
themselves in criminal activity. According to “From Disney to Chavez: Venezuelan Migrants in
the U.S. Proposal” by Lourdes Gouveia, Rogelio Saenz and Jasney Cogua all professionals from
different universities believe 80% of poverty was reported alongside with political persecution
and arrests. However, fast forwarding to recent times, Venezuelans have been forced to migrate
to different countries because the socialist government has not changed much over the years.
Due to the deteriorating relations between the government and people of Venezuela, individuals
have found a sense of home when moving into the United States to find new opportunities.
Furthermore, on this article, I was able to find information on a majority of Venezuelans living in
the United States. For instance, the following statement describes “Florida has been the preferred
destination for most Venezuelans and 46% of all Venezuelans reside in that state. The largest
concentrations are found in Miami and Orlando. New York harbors the second largest
concentration” (Gouveia et al, 2015). However, the numbers are still small compared to
Mexican-Central American migration.
President Hugo Chavez Frias passed away in March 5th, 2013 in Caracas, Venezuela.
And in April 19, 2013, his successor Nicolas Maduro became President of Venezuela (Country
