Magazuelans: How Venezuelan Americans Embraced Trump as Their Savior
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This was very likely one of the factors that sparked President Trump’s interest in the Venezuelan political crisis and Venezuelan-American community. He identified an opportunity. He held rallies at Florida International University and roundtable discussions making explicit his support for Venezuelans and their cause for freedom, democracy, and capitalism. The courtship Republicans initiated seemed to pay dividends as Venezuelan support for Trump swelled and worried Democrats. They too attempted to make inroads by challenging Trump. If he really wanted to help Venezuelans, Democrats argued, he should grant them Temporary Protected Status. But no such help ever materialized. (It was Biden that gave them TPS)
Political Assimilation and Racial Identity
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The events that ignited the protest movement last summer provoked a strong reaction from the pro-Trump Venezuelan expat community. They accused BLM of being a Marxist organization, providing them with an ideological cover to criticize the movement while concealing their underlying racism. This is not entirely unprecedented in Venezuelan politics, as it was perfectly acceptable for the opposition to attack Chávez in racist terms when he was first elected in 1998. Paradoxically, Venezuelans come from a cultural environment where race is not openly debated, and yet there is an implicit understanding that (access to) privilege is associated with whiteness. Due to their experiences in their home country, white Venezuelan Americans (especially those of European descent) may not necessarily think of themselves as part of a community considered to be a minority—they are more likely to identify as American, without the Latinx label.
Venezuelan Americans are becoming increasingly relevant to Florida’s political landscape. Trump has given the Venezuelan expat community the national spotlight, recognition, and promised to back their political struggle against Maduro. Venezuelan Americans have demonstrated reciprocity, including accepting—almost without question—the conspiracy theories that circulate about Democrats, BLM, and other groups that oppose Trump.
https://nacla.org/venezuelan-american-trump-voters
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