Venezuelans in Miami urge their government to reopen consulate

Venezuelan residents in Florida, North and South Carolina and Georgia requested Hugo Chávez's government to reopen the Venezuelan consulate in Miami to ensure documentation and paperwork and the right of children, young people, students and seniors to have an ID card and other identity documents.

The group of Venezuelans issued a statement in which they claimed that that the closure of the consulate was not due to technical reasons "but to a political retaliation against 250,000 Venezuelans living in the United States who have been deprived of attention and protection that all consular office must provide to its nationals residing abroad."

Demonstrators suspect that the Venezuelan government decision to close the consulate was in retaliation. Previously, the US government had declared Venezuelan Consul General to Miami Livia Acosta Noguera persona non grata. According to Venezuelan authorities, the US action was prompted by the pressure of hardcore rightist sectors.

Venezuelans have been denied" their right to have an ID card because the nearest consulate to renew their passports and other identity documents is several hundred miles away," the statement says.