How the U.S. Drove Venezuelans North

[Judi Lynn]

A relentless history of U.S. imperialism and anti-socialism brought thousands of migrants to the floors of Chicago police stations.

LILIAN JIMENEZ OCTOBER 19, 2023



A migrant father from Venezuela feeds his 15-month-old son in the lobby of a police station where their family has been staying since their arrival to Chicago on May 9, 2023.
PHOTO BY SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

This is part one of a two-part interview.

In the last week of August 2022, as head of the Illinois Welcoming Centers and State Refugee Coordinator, I went to meet a bus of migrants that had been sent to Chicago from Texas. They arrived with no familial connections and nowhere to go. They would be the first of thousands.

The federal government decided to stay on the sidelines, so the community and aid organizations that have long served the Latine community and displaced refugees and asylum seekers met the moment. Partnering with the city and state, those groups provided food, hotel rooms, shelter, case management, legal services, housing and rental assistance.

The buses slowed that winter, and at the end of 2022, the state shifted to focus on resettlement and the city stepped up. But when Title 42 was lifted this May, the buses started coming faster again. Two-thirds of the more than 340 buses have arrived since May 12. In total, the city estimates that Chicago has seen almost 20,000 new arrivals since August 2022. Most are from Central and South America, and many are from Venezuela or have some connection to Venezuela.

Right now more than 3,000 are sleeping on the floors of police stations; others are at overflowing shelters. Their presence has provoked both an outpouring of mutual aid and also an outcry over the use of city resources in a city that has long shortchanged poor and Black and Latine communities. The city’s plans to shelter the migrants in winter have been controversial and remain up in the air.

- click for image -

https://tinyurl.com/mr2x7kt2

A migrant family from Venezuela arrives with their belongings at a police station in Chicago on May 9.
PHOTO BY SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

More:
https://inthesetimes.com/article/how-the-u-s-drove-venezuelans-north

[GreenWave]

1. I am very grateful for this article. Especially the link at the bottom.

I had long suspected Juan Guaidó of being a major instigator in the woes of Venezuela, How dare they assign Citgo to this thieving jodedor. I suspected seeing so many Venezuelans trying to cross el Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande in USA) in the middle of Texas had to be transported somehow to this bizarre location when Florida is not so far.
I read about 1/2. So thank you so much Judy Lynn!

[Judi Lynn]

3. You're on target concerning Juan Guaid. Yet another son of super-wealthy Venezuelan oligarchs, a major brat.

All the "leaders" the "opposition" has tried to slam into the Presidency have been totally out of touch with the vast majority. You might remember some of the nasty attempts he has made during Trump, and with Trump's backing on the attempted invasion including a US former Marine or some other kind of idiot. They blew it, got caught and locked up. He tried some other odious other crimes, and was even photographed with some Colombian narcotraffickers during a wee visit he made on one of his nefarious attempts to arrange a crime they could blame on Maduro.

Thanks for pointing to the weirdness of arriving Venezuelans appearing everywhere but where you'd expect them. So mysterious!

[The Magistrate]

2. Exactly, Ma'am

We do everything short of war to ruin their economy, then point to the wreck and crow how 'Socialism just can't work'.

And by now, without even the poor excuse of warding off Soviet influence by it.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Of course only trumped by the ones who have absolutely no grasp of US history in the Americas. They refuse to think.

It IS odd hearing them go on and on so many decades after the Cold War ended, too.

[The Magistrate]

5. Had An Uncle Back Then Was A Flat-Out Bircher, Ma'am

Eisenhower is an agent of the Kremlin, communists aim to weaken us by mixing the races, the whole nine yards.

In my traveling days I was often in Central America. Once in Port Limon a cab-driver wanted to take me on a tour and I'd nothing to do til next day. He spent much of it telling about how they'd fought the United Fruit here and there, his father and uncles and everybody.

I'm a firm proponent of everybody finding their own road to hell in the handbasket of their choice.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Amazing. That taxi trip would have been deeply educational for anyone from the U.S.

After seeing your comments, I looked up Port Limon for an abbreviated Reader's Digest view, and saw that that town had been firmly under control over a hundred years ago by U.S. business interests. They were goners already, taken down and put in the back pocket of outsiders with no interests whatsoever in the well-being of the people living and working there already since forever.

United Fruit (Chiquita) ate everything in its way and killed everyone who objected.









Seeing their positioning in Central America tells you instantly they didn't stand a chance against United Fruit (Chiquita) , ever. Totally surrounded by successful vampirism from U.Fruit.



"Haaaaaands across the waaaaturrrrrrrr"

Looking back at what you observed and learned during that time would be amazing. If only more US Americans had the slightest idea of what on earth has been happening there since the 1800's!

It's going to be a long fight before people can get free again..

Thank you, sir.



Banana republic, Chiquita, & White House Bushes

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2007/3/15/312198/-

[The Magistrate]

7. Thank You, Ma'am

Always like to see old posters.

I wish I remember more of it, but it was back years before Reagan. I remember the guy, but there's little point trying to describe him; it was some old Detroit iron he drove, there were some huge palm trees in a central square. It's an odd little patch. On the Carribean coasts down there, most of the folk are black, who speak something that sounds very like English but isn't quite.

Let me take the opportunity to say how much I appreciate your always interesting and frequently fascinating posts here. I seldom comment, but always read....