Venezuelan Americans

As of the 2010 Census, there were 177,866 self-identified Venezuelan Americans in the United States. An exact figure is difficult to determine because Venezuelan immigration was not accurately tracked until the early 20th century, and such immigrants were usually reported as South Americans. Furthermore, Venezuela attracted its own considerable immigration, and when the 19th century turned chaotic for the country, many first-and second-generation European immigrants left Venezuela for the United States but may have been recorded in immigration and census records not as Venezuelans or even South Americans, but according to the European country of their ancestry.

Venezuela is on the northern coast of South America, bordered by Brazil, Colombia, and Guyana. Having been colonized by Spain in the early 16th century, it became independent in 1830 after a brief period as part of Colombia. The population is roughly half mestizo, with whites forming the largest minority at 42 percent, and significant minority populations of African Venezuelans and indigenous peoples. After a tumultuous 19th century, Venezuela discovered oil in the early 1900s and has since developed some of the world's largest oil reserves. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the rise and fall of oil prices has had a significant impact on the Venezuelan economy, which has also been driven by political crises. The 1990s were an especially difficult period, foreshadowed by thousands of deaths by rioting in 1989, followed by two attempted coups, the impeachment of the president, poverty rates of 66 percent, 100 percent inflation, and finally a revolution and the drafting of a new constitution in 1999.

Most South Americans settling in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries congregated in urban centers, especially in Los Angeles and San Francisco—where there was a vibrant existing Spanish-speaking community and ample land and job opportunities—as well as Chicago and the northeast urban hubs. Without accurate figures about Venezuelan immigration at the time, we can make only an educated guess that there were several thousand Venezuelan Americans by the first half of the 20th century. The number is unlikely to have been significantly greater than that, unless there is a significant population of Americans of Venezuelan ancestry who do not identify as such, and who therefore have not been revealed by census data once the census began tracking country-specific ancestry rather than simply Hispanic or South American.

Sustained Venezuelan immigration began in the 1980s, during modern Venezuela's turbulent period, and has continued since. A number of Venezuelans arrived earlier than that for educational purposes, remaining and finding work, and [Page 2134]later being joined by relatives, but the consistent immigration since the late 20th century has been driven by Venezuela's political turbulence and economic calamities.

Most Venezuelans today settle in Florida or New York City. The largest Venezuelan American community is in southern Florida, and the 20 communities with the largest Venezuelan population by percentage are all in Florida, with Doral (8.22 percent), Weston (4.1 percent), Fountainbleau (3.14 percent), the Hammocks (3.14 percent), Key Biscayne (2.36 percent), and North Bay Village (2.15 percent) leading the pack. Venezuelans tend to retain a strong connection to their home country and to visit it often, sharing news of their country with the rest of the community upon their return.

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