Jason Chue used to knock off at five o’clock sharp, leave the office and go and enjoy his evening. Now he routinely finds himself stuck there long into the evening answering the plaintive e-mails of hundreds of Venezuelans pleading for information on how they can emigrate to the United States.For the past eight years, rich Venezuelans have been trickling out of the country, spooked by the socialist bluster of their populist President, Hugo Chávez. But since being inaugurated for his third term in January, Mr Chávez’s talk has begun turning into substance, with an evermore radical series of moves to transform Venezuela into the world’s first “21st-century socialist state”. Now the super-rich are being joined by middle-class professionals and, increasingly, families.
| We should take them all. The Canadians will pitch in. Chavez's loss will be our gain. |
| And apparently they have good reason. |
In Caracas, billboards and murals of Mr Chávez are everywhere, showing the smiling President clasping a child or surrounded by adoring crowds. Just as ubiquitous now are the huge red posters, each illustrating one of the five “engines of the revolution” unveiled by Mr Chávez in January. The first of these, already in place, is the law handing Mr Chávez the power to rule by decree for the next 18 months, circumventing such unrevolutionary nuisances as Parliament. The second is the constitutional reform, which translates as the removal of presidential-term limits, allowing Mr Chávez to govern indefinitely. The remaining three, sceptics say, might as well just say “anything Mr Chávez fancies” because the first two enable him to do exactly that.
Poor people are the main beneficiaries
| Wait til his pockets are empty and he resorts to naked repression. Then everyone's going to complain why they weren't warned. |
Right now, it is the “third engine” of the revolution — morality and enlightenment — that is spooking the middle classes. They are terrified that a socialist curriculum is about to be imposed in schools. Rumours swirled about everything from the abolition of dual nationality to a law putting minors in state custody so they cannot be taken overseas.