Elite seeks refuge in Miami

MIAMI (AP):

Carlos Salamanca fled Venezuela's growing political turmoil in January with his wife, two teenage children and $7,000. Two months into their journey to the United States, he and his wife are sleeping most nights in an old, worn Nissan.

Salamanca had no family or business contacts in the US. No property he'd purchased on a previous trip. No idea where the children might attend school.

"Once we started getting threats, we couldn't take it anymore," he said of the family's last days in Venezuela.

Early waves of Venezuelan immigrants who fled after the late President Hugo Chavez and his socialist government came to power in 1999 came largely from the upper class.

They had abundant savings and vacation homes in Miami to turn into permanent residences. These days, Miami's large Venezuelan community is filled increasingly with those from the middle class.

The contrast has come to the fore in recent weeks as protests erupted throughout Venezuela over a long-brooding list of woes: Food shortages, soaring inflation, and a heavy-handed government that has shut off spaces for dissent. At least 21 people have been killed.

Immigration attorneys who work in Miami's Venezuelan community said they have been flooded with enquiries from families seeking political asylum or wanting to find a way to try and get their relatives out. Most are middle-class families with limited finances.