Is Venezuela Sending Violent Criminals to the United States?
It’s unclear, but Cuba did it, and there are a lot of ties between Caracas and Havana
By Andrew R. Arthur on March 15, 2024
Certain GOP officials — including former President Donald Trump — have alleged that that the socialist government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is using the Biden administration’s lenient entry policies for nationals of that country to send criminals and other bad actors to the United States. The claim has been rejected by so-called fact-checkers, but Fidel Castro did just that during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, and there are some pretty strong ties between Havana and Caracas. So the idea may not be as specious as some have claimed — and a recent high-profile murder may provide evidence.
Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. The Venezuelan economy rode a rollercoaster of ups and downs for decades after the ascension of President Romulo Betancourt — the first freely elected leader following decades of dictatorship — in 1958. That cycle was largely tied to the value of a key Venezuelan export — oil.
In February 1989, then-President Carlos Andres Perez attempted to impose free-market reforms in the country, modeled along the lines of principles enshrined in the pro-capitalist Washington Consensus. Those reforms triggered riots, in which anywhere between 275 and 3,000 Venezuelans perished.
This upheaval provided an opportunity for Hugo Chavez, a Venezuelan military officer with a decidedly revolutionary bent, to mount an attempted coup in February 1992 (which landed him in jail), followed by another in November of that year, which was turned back by troops loyal to the government.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Venezuela-Sending-Violent-Criminals-United-States
