Venezuelan middle class flees Chávez rule of hate

To the Chief’s eye it looks like that old deja-vu all over again. Just as happened with the solidification of the Castro regime in Cuba, the Venezuelan middle-class that is able to, is voting with their feet to go almost anywhere other than where they are now.

Venezuela’s once-thriving middle class is packing its bags and fleeing the country, afraid for the future as the socialist president, Hugo Chávez, calls on the slum-dwelling masses to rise up and seize wealth from those better off than themselves.

Growing numbers of professionals, business owners and shopkeepers are fed up with the climate of hostility that the Left-wing president has encouraged in his effort to boost his populist credentials.

It says something that the narco-terrorized Colombia looks like a place of refuge from Venezuela:

Marcial Rivera, a 30-year-old business graduate, packed his bags and left for neighbouring Colombia this week. He believes that it is a more stable place to live, despite its own huge problems. “I’m all torn up,” he said. “I would like to stay but I don’t want to be here when the big bang comes and I think it will be very soon.”

The situation in Venezuela is like watching a slow-motion economic and social train wreck.