Chavez's policies drive his people out

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DORAL, Fla. -- They call it "Plan B."

As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tightens control of the South American country's economy, wealthy Venezuelans who once thought they could live with his socialist edicts are turning to their backup plan -- flight to the United States, particularly Florida.

Venezuelans have long gobbled up condos and preconstruction deals in Florida as investments, but the latest buyers want homes where they can live and business properties that will help them earn a green card.

"First the people who come are the businessmen in the highest circles, then the losing politicians, then the military and then the professionals," said Miami immigration lawyer Oscar Levin. "You're beginning to see the professionals."

This latest and largest potential group of emigrants say they fear the effect Mr. Chavez's socialist policies will have on the economy and on proposed educational reforms that could mirror the ideology of Mr. Chavez's ally and mentor, Cuba's Fidel Castro.

"There is so much insecurity, political insecurity, economic insecurity," said Venezuelan Miguel Medina, a business executive who moved to Miami in August. "You don't know if a contract you signed today will be honored by the government in the future. ... It was time to do the 'Plan B.' "

Mr. Medina said six family members visited him in the past two months seeking ways to relocate to the United States. Unlike previous cycles, those seeking to leave and bring their money to the United States are coming from all over Venezuela, not just from Caracas, said Mr. Medina, an account executive for ExpoCredit.

Between 2000 -- a year after Mr. Chavez took office -- and 2005, the number of Venezuelans living in the United States doubled to about 160,000, according to the latest Census Bureau numbers. Nearly half live in Florida.

But those numbers are deceptive.

In 2005, 10,645 Venezuelans received their green cards allowing them to live in the United States, almost doubling the 6,222 who received them in 2004, according to the latest Department of Homeland Security statistics. Another 400,000 Venezuelans came to the United States in 2005 on business and tourism visas. It is not known how many stayed.