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U.S. Created the Venezuelan Refugee Crisis [1]

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Date: 2023-10-04  

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are escalating their anti-immigrant diatribes in efforts to win support among the most rabid and extreme elements of the rightwing electorate. They are both calling for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants without consideration of the cost, the impact on families and the American economy, the impact on the United States of a virtual police state, or why millions of people have no choice but to abandon homes and enter the United States.Parents are continually telling their children, when you make a mess, it is your job to clean it up. The Venezuelan refugee crisis is a mess created by the UnitedStates and if the United States wants to control the influx of refugees at the southern border, it will have to acknowledge and clean up the mess it created.

Since the success of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the United States has used whatever means necessary in attempts to overthrow Western Hemisphere governments that challenge U.S. domination. It supported an invasion of Cuba in 1961 and a coup in Chile in 1973, it invaded the Dominican Republic in 1965 and Grenada in1983, and undermined governments in Nicaragua and Haiti.

Venezuela on the northeastern coast of South America has the world’s largest oil reserves. In 1998, the people of Venezuela elected Hugo Chávez President on a socialist platform that pledging to use Venezuela’s oil wealth to reduce poverty and inequality. Chávez’ election and his reform policies led to a resurgence of progressive political forces in Latin America. In 2002, the Bush administration gave tacit support to a military plot to overthrow Chávez. Since 2006, the United States has used every excuse to impose economic sanctions against theVenezuelan government and individuals. When Hugo Chávez died of cancer in 2013and he was succeeded as President by Nicolás Maduro. In 2017 and 2018, Trump administration officials met with rebels in Venezuela to discuss a possible coup and the Trump administration recognized an opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as the interim president of Venezuela. Since 2017, the United States has made over 350 Venezuelan-related economic sanction designations. These have contributed to the collapse of the Venezuelan oil industry, output declined byt three-quarters, unemployment, hyperinflation, and shortages of food and basic goods.

Desperate families are fleeing Venezuela on a dangerous overland trip through Colombia,Central America, and Mexico, spending months navigating jungles, mountain passages, and deserts before waiting for an opportunity on the Mexican-United States border to cross, either legally or illegally, into the United States where they apply for refugee status with the hope of remaining in the country.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department is granting Temporary Protected Status to almost a half million Venezuelans refugees who arrived in the country before July 31.This will permit them to legally work in the United States and ease the burden of support on states and cities. An additional quarter of a million Venezuelans had already qualified for temporary status.

Mismanagement, corruption, and authoritarian tendencies by Venezuelan government officials played a role in the economic collapse of the country, but U.S. policy and opposition to an independent Venezuela freed of U.S. domination, is the root cause of Venezuela’s situation and the refugee crisis overwhelming American cities including New York. It is an American-made mess and if the United States wants to stop the refugee influx, it will have to rebuild Venezuela and clean up the mess it created.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/4/2197425/-U-S-Created-the-Venezuelan-Refugee-Crisis?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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