#venezuelan diaspora

[blogintenso]

Mi vida ahora... Duro Exilio...

Un viento misionero sacude las persianas

no sé qué jueves trae

no sé qué noche lleva

ni siquiera el dialecto que propone

no abro hospitalidad

no ofrezco resistencia

simplemente lo escucho

arrinconado

mientras en el recinto vuelan nombres

papeles y cenizas

lo raro lo increíble es que a pesar

de mi desamparada expectativa

no sé qué dice el viento del exilio

#peru #exilio #s.o.s venezuela #venezuelan diaspora #soledad #venezuela #venezuela en dictadura #represion en venezuela

[noplacetohidethis]

Don't get me wrong, I like my life, and I am proud of my accomplishments. But sometimes I feel so fucking out of place, and everything seems wrong, like I got lost in a life that wasn't supposed to be mine.

Then I start to wonder if I wouldn't feel like this if, 20 years ago, my parents didn't make the decision to move out of Venezuela, splitting my childhood in half. Would I have stayed on my rightful path? Would I feel whole? Maybe I would feel like I have a place to return to.

Then I remember the suffering that everyone who stayed had to endure in this last decade, and I feel lucky I got spared.

#immigrant children #will i ever feel at home #perpetual immigrant #multiethnic #oh well #home is a question mark #immigration #feelings #immigrant #venezuelan diaspora

[revindicatedbyhistory]

i don't know if it's just like the circles that I am into, but why are so many diaspora Latinos right wing?

why would i, argentinian born and raised and currently living in argentina, know this

#if they are cuban venezuelan or related diaspora their parents or grandparents probably blame everything on having fled socialism tho

[righteousdelusions]

every time confirming that venezuelan doctors are the elite

#the horror stories that i listen in different countries #totally different that my own experiences #i think it's privilege but then i see content of the diaspora saying no we really do miss venezuelan doctors #izzy.txt

[twrambling]

I've been doing so much research on precolonial Venezuela I'm not even sure what happened afterwards F

#Meitoswords #Worst venezuelan out there!!!! 💥💥💥 #Get the diaspora maracucho that mostly lived in carabobo and Italy to do the aph Venezuela oc I'm sure that will end super well #Ok in my defence I do know about stuff during the second republic and the gran Colombia #I've just been lazy to go in depth cause I wanna write down lolo's lore in chronological order #which means first doing research on his uncle lol #I also really should work more on my designs for the venezuelan states since #I think since Venezuela is such a diverse country I'll have to use them a lot if I wanna go in depth #So far I've only designed #Miranda / Caracas / Vargas/Guaira / Zulia / Bolivar / Cojedes / Aragua #I've done a rough draft for Carabobo and Merida #But I don't really like them #Tbh I gotta re draw them all I only reallyy like Zulia Caracas and Miranda and also Aragua she's cute but I can do better #My problem is that I never know when to make them be born lol are they a province a city or a state? No idea #I've also made colonia tovar cause ehm fumny #I wanna design a few diaspora communities to #Doing too much akwbwksnw #I also gotta look a lot into estado amazonas because it's known as the 'indigenous state' #But it has like.. A lot of ethnicities #So I think I'll design each indigenous nation and then together they represent the state #So I gotta get to that to #I'm feeling school so hardd

[queerlyfemmeandblack]

Afro Venezuelans

#Afro Latino #Afro Venezuelans #Venezuelans #Latino #Afro Latine #Betsayda Machado #Venezuelan #Afro Venezuelan #south america #South American #culture #African Diaspora

[txttletale]

i have a lot of criticisms of the PSUV and especially maduro's government [venezuelan diaspora starts cheering] specifically that they have accomodated far too much with the national capitalists, have been far too hesitant to expropriate, and in general the chavistas should have used their political power in the early 2000s to make more far-reaching left-wing economic reforms [venezuelan disapora is now throwing rocks at me

#tattletxt

[young-royals-confessions]

Many Venezuelans have family in many different countries! Because Venezuela has become a dangerous country where nothing works anymore, so people with the means to do so are fleeing.

Omar himself have family in the US and Spain. A Venezuelan student I had when the first wave of emigration began more than a decade ago, had family in Argentina, Mexico, Canada, the US, Spain, Sweden and Norway. A close friend who is Kurdish has family in Mexico, the US, Germany, Sweden and Norway.

Mexico even has a sizeable Lebanese diaspora dating back to the 1960s!

🇻🇪

#venezuela

[jacquesthepigeon]

Imagine all your knowledge of your own language having been taught to you by your local white boy, that's gotta be embarrassing.

One time a venezuelan girl started explaining cuban history to me and it suuuuuuuucked

Anyway there’s a docuseries covering the history of Cuba up until the mid 2010s on netflix so if ur like me and descended from cuban diaspora and want to stop not knowing shit that’s a pretty good source I think

#anon #ask

[mariacallous]

The internet meme “Florida Man” captures the absurdity many have come to expect from the U.S. state. It’s easy to dismiss zany stories about Floridians catching alligators in trash cans and planting banana trees in potholes as having little bearing beyond the state’s borders. But foreign-policy practitioners cannot afford to ignore the upcoming battle between two important Florida Men: the candidates vying for the state’s governorship on Nov. 8.

The gubernatorial election, held on the same day as the U.S. midterms, will pit Florida’s sitting governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, against the state’s former governor, Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist. DeSantis, who outpaces his opponent in both campaign contributions and name recognition, is widely expected to win; FiveThirtyEight’s average of recent polls shows DeSantis leading Crist by 8.1 points. Some observers say DeSantis’s competent response to Hurricane Ian, which barreled across Florida last month, has further boosted his chances of victory.

Florida is known for its hyper-local yet nationally consequential political landscape; razor-thin margins in the state have decided national races, including the 2000 U.S. presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. But DeSantis’s likely triumph in Florida’s gubernatorial contest could have broad implications for U.S. foreign policy, too.

Though U.S. foreign policy is typically considered a function of the federal government, state governments also frequently work with foreign governments and businesses—a trend experts say has only accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Florida is no exception: In 1996, then-Gov. Lawton Chiles unveiled a joint partnership to support Haiti’s democratic and economic development. In 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott attended conservative Colombian President Iván Duque’s inauguration in Bogotá. And DeSantis issued an executive order last month to limit state and local government trade with companies linked to seven “countries of concern” that he alleges pose a cybersecurity threat, including China and Russia. DeSantis also waded into the foreign-policy conversation in June when he labeled Colombia’s new leftist president, Gustavo Petro, a “former narco-terrorist.”

More than one-fifth of Florida’s residents were born abroad, and the state boasts the largest diaspora populations of Colombians, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans in the United States. Coupled with its geographic proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean, these demographics have given Florida significant influence on U.S. policy toward the region.

For decades, the state’s powerful diaspora interest groups have generally backed hard-line positions toward socialist regimes in Havana and Caracas. The Cuban American National Foundation, headquartered in Miami, steered the United States toward a staunchly anti-Fidel Castro policy beginning in the 1980s, and Florida’s senior U.S. senator, Marco Rubio, exemplifies the community’s continued influence. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio reportedly drove the Trump administration’s reversal of the Obama-era thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations.

Immigrants have flocked to Florida for decades, many fleeing oppressive regimes, political instability, and violence. Thousands of Haitians have set sail for Florida in recent months, often in overcrowded and ill-equipped boats. Across the United States, border officials encountered more than three times the number of Venezuelan migrants during the 2022 fiscal year than they did in the 2021 fiscal year, and more Cubans are arriving now than during the 1980 Mariel boatlift. But observers say Florida residents, including those of Latin American and Caribbean origin, increasingly oppose the influx of newcomers—a tension already affecting U.S. immigration policy. As of September, 47 percent of residents in the Miami-Dade region—home to Little Havana, Little Haiti, and “Doralzuela”—supported the Florida government sending migrants out of state.

Though the U.S. federal government retains primacy in regulating immigration, DeSantis has repeatedly proved himself willing to push the limits of his power and tangle with federal authorities. On Sept. 14, DeSantis used state funds to fly 48 unwitting Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. His office argued the move granted them “an opportunity to seek greener pastures.” Though DeSantis now faces several lawsuits—including from the migrants themselves and from the Florida Center for Government Accountability—his administration plans to continue such flights.

U.S. President Joe Biden rebuked Republican officials like DeSantis for “playing politics with human beings,” but the Biden administration has also faced criticism as it balances the political, humanitarian, and legal dynamics of immigration policy. This challenge is clear in the administration’s recent announcement that it will offer humanitarian parole to some Venezuelan migrants yet increase expulsions of others who enter the United States illegally.

As governor, DeSantis has also signed legislation banning so-called sanctuary cities, which generally help shield undocumented migrants from deportation by restricting collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The state’s newly redistricted election map, meanwhile, skews heavily in the Republican Party’s favor—increasing the likelihood that the midterm elections deepen the bench of like-minded Florida members of Congress willing to reinforce DeSantis’s interests in Washington and beyond. Rubio, in particular, has allied with the governor, even defending a DeSantis-backed Florida riot law from criticism by a United Nations committee aimed at combating discrimination. DeSantis himself is also a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and his time on Capitol Hill has helped him forge ties with non-Florida legislators such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who supported the Martha’s Vineyard stunt.

Many migrants arriving in Florida are caught in a feedback loop of insecurity fueled by lax U.S. firearm regulations. Florida, which trails only Texas in its number of federally registered guns, is a wellspring for arms trafficking to Latin America and the Caribbean. As recently as 2016, U.S. firearms accounted for 99 percent of guns recovered and traced after crimes in Haiti. This month, Mexico filed a lawsuit in Arizona to curb trafficking of U.S. guns across the southern border.

Though Florida is not solely to blame for making the Americas the world’s most murderous region, its gun regulations are felt by U.S. neighbors and bear consequences for national immigration and security policies. Mass shootings at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub in 2016 and Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 thrust Florida to the forefront of the U.S. gun control debate. Endorsed by the National Rifle Association, DeSantis favors further loosening Florida’s firearm laws.

Meanwhile, the 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South, a condominium building near Miami, drew international attention to the low-lying, peninsular state’s climate vulnerability. Experts have not definitively linked the collapse to environmental factors, yet Florida is clearly an early warning signal for emerging climate threats. A 2022 U.N. report singled out the state as an example of a place uniquely vulnerable to coastal flooding and other climate-related issues. Experts say ocean warming will only intensify storms—as Floridians learned last month with Hurricane Ian.

DeSantis has embraced some environmental reforms, championing an expansive resilience effort. This has included creating a state-level office for resilience and grant-making to help Florida communities reduce their vulnerability to sea level rise and flooding. DeSantis also helped lock in billions of dollars to restore the Everglades, a wildlife-rich wetland in the state. (Critics charge that these initiatives are smokescreens for DeSantis’s continued support of precarious development projects and the fossil fuel industry.)

How Florida’s next administration chooses to handle climate change could be a blueprint for other environmentally vulnerable communities around the world. DeSantis’s largely effective response to Hurricane Ian does not negate the storm’s massive devastation, which laid bare Florida’s continued lack of resilience to climate change. As such storms intensify, there is increasing urgency to develop effective defenses that low-lying communities worldwide can implement.

The election has another, potentially troubling dimension: DeSantis’s ties to the political upheaval that has compromised the United States’ global standing in recent years. The FBI probe into whether former U.S. President Donald Trump kept classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his South Florida resort, has drawn international attention to DeSantis’s state. The club itself—an alleged magnet for foreign intelligence agents—has also become a national security liability.

Trump has suggested he may run again in 2024, but possible criminal charges cloud his political future. Some observers believe DeSantis is the Republican Party’s best bet in that race, though it’s unclear whether he will defy Trump—his longtime ally—and launch a presidential bid. Either way, DeSantis will need to appeal to the former president’s fan base, which dominates the Republican Party.

We don’t yet know whether DeSantis would court political support by complicating the federal investigation surrounding Trump and Mar-a-Lago. Overt obstruction is a remote possibility, but anything could happen in the current political arena, which has been shaped by the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. And even DeSantis’s continued criticism of the probe would hurt the United States’ global reputation as a standard-bearer for the rule of law. Whether DeSantis would intervene to defend Trump—as Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, DeSantis’s close ally, has done—or delegitimize him is unclear.

Sabotaging Trump could eliminate DeSantis’s strongest Republican competition for 2024, but it could also alienate pro-Trump voters whose support DeSantis might need in a faceoff against the Democratic nominee. A DeSantis presidential run—if done in the Trumpian mold—could also induce a U-turn in U.S. foreign policy and solidify the extreme right’s transformation of this sphere. DeSantis’s success or failure in Florida’s 2022 gubernatorial election could be an early predictor of his national viability. This may be the race’s greatest foreign-policy implication.

Whether DeSantis keeps his office or Crist makes an unlikely comeback, Florida will stay relevant to quagmires like U.S.-Cuba relations and emerging threats like climate change. As a top destination for international travel, the often-ridiculed state is the country’s face to millions of international visitors each year. Ignoring Florida Men could have broad consequences for the United States’ global image.

[blogintenso]

Nunca hay que olvidar,

el porqué nos pasó,

lo que nos pasó.

#venezuela en dictadura #s.o.s venezuela #represion en venezuela #venezuelan diaspora #venezuela

[drone42]

RadioForUs.com on the Pi Network

The Story of RadioForus: A Journey in the Pi Network Ecosystem

At the heart of the vibrant Pi Network ecosystem lies the fascinating story of RadioForus, an application that has evolved to become an essential piece of the digital music landscape. From its humble beginnings as a Pi App designed to provide entertainment to Pi Network users, RadioForus has experienced exponential growth.

Since its inception, RadioForus has been driven by the magic of programming, using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS code to deliver a unique auditory experience. However, in its constant pursuit of innovation and improvement, the team behind RadioForus is working tirelessly to develop its own database, taking the application to new technological heights.

Behind the magic of RadioForus is a diverse and passionate team, mostly composed of Venezuelans who, due to the difficult circumstances in their home country, have scattered around the world. This diaspora has added a unique richness to the application, as each team member brings their unique perspective, regional musical influences, and diverse life experiences.

RadioForus is not just an application; it is a testament to the resilience and creativity of a group of entrepreneurs who, despite challenges, have managed to create an innovative music platform. From European cities to the Americas, each team member adds their personal touch, enriching the application with unparalleled cultural and musical diversity.

The RadioForus community is more than just listeners; it is a global family connected by music and a shared passion for the development of this unique platform. We invite everyone to actively participate in this story. Do you have any suggestions, opinions, or votes on how RadioForus can improve? We'd love to hear from you. Explore the comments section on our page and use the contact link to share your thoughts. RadioForus is a story in constant evolution, and your voice is a fundamental part of each chapter. Tune in, share, and make your music heard on RadioForus! Join the music revolution now!

#RadioForUs #pi network #pinetworktothemoon

[chasingcrystal]

This family picked me up off the street.

I rode down from camping in Godall and grabbed lunch at the supermarket. I was eating on my bike as usual and this car pulled up next to me. In the car is a family and we start talking. They are Venezuelans living in Spain where the husband has Italian heritage. The human diaspora story is so interesting to me. I love asking the questions “How did you get here?” And people tell me their family history, migration because of some war, world event, governmental influence, economic crisis, etc. It’s living history and very interesting.

Anywho, I tell them my story and the first thing they ask me is if I want to come over and shower 😹 Do I smell that bad? There is a bike width distance between us and we’re outside 🫠 I’m kidding, I just think it’s hilarious this is always the first thing people offer me. I politely decline. I only just showered 4 days ago, I still feel clean 😺 We exchange contact information and go our separate ways

They then send me a text and invite me over again. I’ve learned if someone asks twice, then I should 99% go. Sometimes energies pull you beyond your own willpower. I ride over to their house and they welcome me into their home. They feed me and give me tea.

As a guest, I always notice when a family gives their guest the best cut or serving. The father gave up his plate for me, and I felt bad, but you literally can’t refuse food from hospitable people when you enter their home or else they’ll give you twice as much. This is one of those things where I just give up and stop fighting.

Grateful for this wholesome family who picked up a dirty, smelly, tattooed biker off the street and gave me a feeling of home.

#chasingcrystal #venezuelanpower #italianhospitality #solofemaletraveler #motorcycletouring #bikerchicks #bikerchicksofinsta #bikerchicksofinstagram #bikerchic #asianamericans

#Instagram

[0ystercatcher]

venezuelan diaspora adopting futbol as a new fav game instead of making baseball a bit bigger in the rest of latam is not what i expected and ngl i am a little disappointed. that would be really fun to see

#m #id say mb its bc all their players are in the mlb and its harder for avg latino to connect if all the teams are like #american city teams . just to find the ones from their country. (none unless youre from the caribbean)

[newstfionline]

Friday, September 29, 2023

In El Paso, Migrants With Nowhere to Go Strain a Welcoming City (NYT) The city of El Paso, a West Texas way station long accustomed to migrants arriving from Mexico, has begun to buckle under the pressure of thousands upon thousands of people coming over the border, day after day. The usual shelters have been filled. So too have the hundreds of hotel rooms wrangled by the city to house migrants. A new city-run shelter opened over the weekend in a recreational center, and rapidly filled all of its roughly 400 beds. Another shelter is planned in a vacant middle school. Mayor Oscar Leeser said over the weekend that the city had reached a “breaking point” and was no longer able to help all the migrants on its own. He welcomed the buses, chartered by the administration of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, that once again began carrying hundreds of migrants out of the city to Denver, Chicago or New York. The mayor said he was seeking millions of dollars in additional aid from the Biden administration. The strain felt in El Paso, a traditionally welcoming border town, reflected a situation that has become increasingly untenable for communities up and down the U.S. border with Mexico. After months of relative calm, a new wave of migrant arrivals, mostly from Venezuela but also from other countries in South America, Africa and elsewhere, is taxing the available services in cities and small towns from Texas to California.

Two days left (NYT) Two basic facts are central to understanding why the federal government may shut down on Sunday morning: First, the House Republican caucus contains about 20 hard-right members who sometimes support radical measures to get what they want. Many of them refused to certify the 2020 presidential election, for example, and now favor impeaching President Biden. They also tend to support deep cuts to federal spending, and they’re willing to shut down the government as a negotiating tactic. “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy—a fellow Republican—said last week. Second, the Republicans’ House majority is so slim that McCarthy needs the support of most of these roughly 20 members to remain speaker. If he passes a bill to fund the government and keep it open without support from the hard-right faction, it can retaliate by calling for a new vote on his speakership and potentially firing him. Nobody knows who would then become speaker. This combination has created a strange situation in Washington. Most House members—along with President Biden—want to avoid a shutdown. So does the Senate: A bipartisan group agreed this week on a spending bill that would keep the government open through mid-November. A similar bill could probably pass the House by a wide margin if it came to the floor. Yet the small Republican faction has enough sway over McCarthy that he has resisted allowing a vote on such a bill. As a result, much of the federal government may shut down this weekend.

Troops stormed a prison. They found inmates had built a luxury resort. (Washington Post) When 11,000 soldiers and police officers stormed Venezuela’s Tocorón prison this month, they discovered a professional baseball field, swimming pools, children’s play equipment—even a small zoo, with monkeys and flamingos. They also found concrete tunnels in and out, just like in the onetime Mexican prison home of the Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. And 200 women and children, living on the grounds. What they didn’t find was Tocorón’s most notorious inmate: Héctor “El Niño” Guerrero. Guerrero, 39, heads Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization spawned in the prison that has spread across Latin America with the Venezuelan diaspora—its principal victims. Now authorities not only in Venezuela, but also Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, are hunting for the fugitive. Interpol has issued a Red Notice seeking his capture. And critics are asking how his gang managed to turn the prison into a luxury resort. Renato Rivera, an analyst in Ecuador who focuses on organized crime, said the search for Guerrero “is revealing just how vulnerable and permeable our countries’ land borders are.”

Rising poverty grips Argentina as runaway inflation takes its toll (AP) With tired faces, residents of a homeless shelter in Argentina’s capital pass through the main entrance and line up to receive a hot drink and a slice of cake for an afternoon snack. Places like the Bepo Ghezzi Social Inclusion Center in the Parque Patricios neighborhood of Buenos Aires have seen demand soar as more people are struggling to make ends meet amid an annual inflation rate above 100%. The portion of Argentines living in poverty reached 40.1% in the first six months of the year, according to figures released Wednesday by the government’s INDEC statistics agency. That is up from 39.2% in the second half of 2022. For much of the 20th century, Argentina showed a social mobility dynamic that gave rise to a large middle class and made the country stand out in the region. But the good times derailed, and poverty has remained firmly above 25% the last two decades as the South American country stays mired in economic malaise. Prices soared 124.4% during the 12-month period through Aug. 31.

Deadly violence in Sweden (AP) Three people were killed overnight in separate incidents in Sweden as deadly violence linked to a feud between criminal gangs escalated. Late Wednesday, an 18-year-old man was shot dead in a Stockholm suburb. Hours later, a man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital. Early Thursday a woman in her 20s died in an explosion in Uppsala, west of Stockholm. Swedish broadcaster SVT noted that the two fatal shootings brings the death toll from gun violence in September to 11, making it the deadliest month for shootings since police started keeping statistics in 2016. Swedish media said at least two of the three events were somehow connected to a feud between criminal gangs, a growing problem in Sweden with drive-by shootings and bombings. Two gangs—one led by a Swedish-Turkish dual national who lives in Turkey, the other by his former lieutenant—are reportedly fighting over drugs and weapons.

Long a city that embraced cars, Paris is seeing bike-lane traffic jams (AP) It’s rush hour on Paris’ Sébastopol Boulevard, and the congestion is severe—not just gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing, horn-honking snarls but also quieter and greener bottlenecks of cyclists jockeying for space. Until four years ago, motorists largely had the Paris thoroughfare to themselves. Now, its bike-lane jams speak to a cycling revolution that is reshaping the capital of France—long a country of car-lovers, home to Renault, Citroen and Peugeot. This revolution, like others, is also proving choppy. A nearly decade-long drive by Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo to turn Paris from a city hostile for cyclists into one where they venture more safely and freely has become so transformative that bikes are steadily muscling aside motor vehicles and increasingly getting in each other’s way. Already, on some Paris boulevards, bikes outnumber cars at peak times.

Europeans are the world’s heaviest drinkers—is Gen Z breaking the habit? (Worldcrunch) From Irish whisky to French wine to German beer, Europe has long been known for alcohol consumption. But that may be starting to change, especially among Gen Z Europeans, who are increasingly drinking less or opting out entirely, out of concern for their health or problematic alcohol use. In Germany, which has the world’s seventh-highest consumption of beer per capita, non-alcoholic beer has exploded in popularity among those looking to live a healthier lifestyle. Though the land of Oktoberfest and Biergartens remains one of the highest consumers of alcohol worldwide, Germans’ average consumption of beer has drastically decreased. In 2022, Germans drank an average of 87.2 liters of beer per year, compared to nearly 100 liters 10 years earlier. Brewers have responded to the changing market, and are developing a wider variety of non-alcoholic beverages than ever before. Since 2007, the production of non-alcoholic beers, which can contain at most 0.5% alcohol, has doubled, according to Les Echos. In Germany, the beverages account for 7% of the beer market, and are expected to take off in the years to come.

Armenian exodus continues (Washington Post) The exodus continues. In a matter of days, roughly half of the ethnic Armenian population of the highland enclave Nagorno-Karabakh have now fled their homes to nearby Armenia. They lived for decades in isolation and de facto independence within the territory of Azerbaijan, but a surprise offensive last week by Azerbaijani forces swiftly overwhelmed the mismatched defenders of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, known to Armenians as Artsakh, and triggered a new wave of displacement in a part of the world that has witnessed generations of ethnic strife and forced population transfers. My colleagues on the ground along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border reported Wednesday that some 47,000 people of Nagorno-Karabakh’s more than 100,000-strong population had already crossed into Armenia. They were crammed into trucks and cars, their possessions piled high. Many more are expected to follow them.

Bengaluru’s growth (Bloomberg) As recently as 30 years ago, Bengaluru was known as a sleepy place where well-heeled Indians chose to retire. Almost 200 lakes were linked by countless canals, low-rise cottages clustered in parklike neighborhoods, and it was easy to bike wherever you needed to go. Now, the heart of India’s tech boom is a metropolis. India’s $194 billion IT services industry has made it the the Silicon Valley of the subcontinent—the population has more than tripled since 1990 to 13 million. In the 1970s, the tree canopy covered about 70% of Bengaluru; today it’s less than 3%. And navigation software developer TomTom last year ranked the city as the most traffic-clogged place in India—and No. 5 worldwide.

Israelis can travel to U.S. without a visa by Nov. 30 (Washington Post) The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will allow Israeli travelers to come to the United States without a visa, a coveted status that was given in exchange for the Israeli government dropping long-standing travel restrictions on Palestinian Americans and other Americans of Arab and Muslim descent. Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program has been a top priority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his predecessor, Naftali Bennett. The country had never been granted access because it refused entry to many Palestinian Americans at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, forcing them to fly to Jordan and then travel overland into the West Bank. In July, Israel agreed to open Ben Gurion Airport to all Americans regardless of their origin in a bid to prove it is committed to its side of the deal. Since then, tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans have flown to Israel successfully, U.S. officials say, been granted visas and access to move around Israeli territory in a way that they haven’t been able to do for decades.

Once Inconceivable, Officials’ Visits Highlight Warming Saudi-Israeli Ties (NYT) Parallel visits this week by an Israeli minister to Saudi Arabia and a Saudi envoy to the Israeli-occupied West Bank have highlighted the fast-warming ties between the Jewish state and the most powerful Arab country. In the first-ever public visit by an Israeli minister to the Arab kingdom, Haim Katz, the Israeli tourism minister, attended a multilateral tourism conference in Riyadh on Tuesday and Wednesday that was organized by the United Nations. Simultaneously, the Saudi ambassador to the Palestinians, Naif al-Sudairi, traveled through an Israeli border checkpoint to visit the West Bank, where he met with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, the organization that administers just under 40 percent of the Israeli-controlled territory. Experts said the visit by Mr. Sudairi, who is based in neighboring Jordan, was the first known visit by a Saudi official to the region since Israel captured it from Jordan in the 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Inconceivable for most of Israel’s history, the two visits symbolized how Israel and Saudi Arabia are gradually setting the stage for the formalization of their relationship, amid escalating efforts by the United States to broker a deal between the two countries.

#headlines #news

[jesrylander]

Venezuelans will share their experiences as immigrants in New York

The "Community Conversation" event will be held on Zoom next Wednesday, August 17, at 6:00 pm EDT. To gain access, participants must register in advance at the following link: RSVP here.

by Jesse Rylander 

Venezuelans and Immigrants Aid (VIA) will hold a"Community Conversation” on Wednesday, August 17. 

This virtual activity aims to bring together Venezuelan migrants, nonprofit organizations, and institutions allied with VIA in New York City to exchange experiences and valuable information to better respond to the needs of the Venezuelan immigrant community.

According to Niurka Meléndez, VIA co-funder, creating tangible strategies is necessary to help the growing number of forced migrants in the United States, especially in New York.

“Our goal is to generate proposals for our population's main problems and challenges. We want to be transparent with the community and the organizations involved. It is not about seeking financing, but rather solutions and forming strategic alliances,” Meléndez said.

Meléndez also stressed that “VIA remains focused on its mission of promoting values ​​of welcome, information, integration, empowerment, and building bridges to people affected by the deep crisis in Venezuela who have had to leave everything behind to protect their lives and seek better opportunities in the U.S."

During the "Community Conversation," VIA will present data recently collected through different surveys conducted among the Venezuelan diaspora in New York. Moreover we will open the space to hear the voices of the community and local organizations.

"The goal is to raise  awareness about their needs and seek possible solutions to these challenges," said Meléndez.

At the event, some migrants will have the opportunity to share their experiences and challenges. Their stories will allow VIA to organize the information and deliver it to government agencies or representatives of the United States Congress.

Likewise, the organizers will use the data to inform support plans for citizens who have fled Venezuela, thereby strengthening VIA's relationships with various local organizations focused on supporting this immigrant community.

Version en español aquí

#Venezuelan #Inmigrants #NewYork #VIA