[I would guess that this brain drain was encouraged by US policy, but there are also domestic Venezuelan reasons.]
On 2/15/07, Eugene Coyle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From Feb 15th Wall St. Journal
Professionals Exit Venezuela Chávez's Grip on Power Drives Out Oil Experts; Support Hugo or You Go By PETER MILLARD February 15, 2007; Page A10 CARACAS, Venezuela -- Oil-rich Venezuela has experienced the kind of economic boom in recent years that should be flush with job opportunities. But an increasing number of professionals, many of them from the oil industry, are looking abroad for work, driven away by President Hugo Chávez's effort to extend state control over the economy, and by inflation verging on 20%. Since his re-election in December, Mr. Chávez has pursued an agenda of "21st Century Socialism," painting a future of "communal cities" and state-run cooperatives dedicated to production, not profit. "Chavez's electoral triumph and the radicalized discourse has increased the desire to emigrate," said Luis Vicente Leon, the head of Datanalisis, a Caracas polling firm. Not everyone is dissatisfied. Mr. Chávez, who first took office in 1999, has gained a broad base of popular support among Venezuela's poor, largely by spending billions of dollars on social programs. And a newly rich class of Venezuelans with close connections to the government is likely to stick around as long as they can continue to profit from Mr. Chávez's rise. Still, at the U.S. Embassy call center for visas in Caracas, the lines have been jammed since Mr. Chávez announced in early January the nationalization of the electricity industry and Venezuela's largest telecommunications firm. "It doubled practically overnight," said a U.S. diplomat. The number of Venezuelans receiving U.S. legal permanent residence more than doubled from 2000 to 2005, when 10,870 got their green cards. In that period the overall number of green cards increased by a third. During that period the number of Venezuelan-born U.S. residents increased 42%, to 151,743, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The oil industry appears to be taking notice of the available talent. Qatar Petroleum has run ads in local papers this year, offering tax-free salaries for geologists, reservoir engineers and geophysicists. Canadian immigration law firm Benchetrit & Associates recently held four days of seminars in Caracas on living and working in Canada. "A plan for your life," read an advertisement for the seminars. A Canadian embassy spokesman said oil companies are the main recruiters on the ground in Caracas. Canada is developing extra-heavy oil reserves that are comparable to those in Venezuela's Orinoco river basin, providing a ready job market for current and former staffers at Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. The number of work visas Canada granted Venezuelans more than doubled last year, to 340. Any opposition-minded oil workers still left at PdVSA face a difficult environment. During the presidential campaign last year, PdVSA President Rafael Ramirez told company executives to join Mr. Chávez's political movement or hit the road. In 2003, Mr. Chávez sacked around 20,000 PdVSA staffers -- about half the company's work force -- for walking off the job, calling them "terrorists." A majority of them were the managers, accountants and field engineers who turned the state oil venture into a world-class oil company during a period of robust expansion in the 1990s. Many found work elsewhere, including in Mexico, Canada and Saudi Arabia, at a time of high demand for experienced oil workers. The lost expertise has taken a toll on PdVSA, the country's largest single employer. Its share of the global market for crude oil supply is shrinking, and accidents and outages are on the rise. Analysts say the cost to PdVSA of producing a barrel of oil has nearly doubled in the past five years to more than $4.50. White-collar executives at Electricidad de Caracas, which provides 10% of the country's power, and CANTV, the leading telephone company, also are bracing for a politicized workplace after Mr. Chávez finishes nationalizing the two firms by the end of March. Employees there say many staffers are seeking early retirement and expect management to discourage political opposition to Mr. Chávez. In January, Mr. Chávez floated the idea of capping salaries for state employees, giving the most valuable technicians and managers at these firms another reason to move on. This isn't the first time Venezuelan professionals have rushed for the exits. A multitude of professionals fled the country in 2003 after a nationwide general strike failed to remove Mr. Chávez from office. According to Datanalisis, the number of Venezuelans who said they were interested in emigrating peaked at around 44% during the 2002-2003 political crisis, which saw the country run out of gasoline for two months. Interest in emigration started declining as the economy rebounded, but Datanalisis expects another spike this year. -- Jim Devine / "The truth is more important than the facts." -- Frank Lloyd Wright This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
