Two months after the United States’ capture and forcible extradition of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro – and as the South American country attempts to settle into a state of relative normalcy in the aftermath of the military incursion – a cohort of Chinese migrants are relocating there in search of business opportunities.
Not all are new arrivals. Mey Hou, a long-term Venezuela resident in her 40s who fled the country during Maduro’s tenure, said many people from her hometown in southern China’s Guangdong province were already on their way to the country or preparing to go.
“Whether it’s returning overseas Chinese or young people who’ve never been there before, they’re eager to explore the new opportunities (emerging after the political changes),” she said.
The easing of US sanctions on Venezuela’s economy, particularly its oil industry, have made Caracas more appealing for entrepreneurial migrants as US dollars begin to recirculate and energy exports rise.
While the January assault by US Special Forces to seize Maduro on drug trafficking charges was met with condemnation by numerous countries and international bodies – and a December poll from Datanalisis showed 55 per cent of surveyed Venezuelans opposed foreign military intervention – the geopolitical shift was cited by Hou and others in the Chinese migrant community as the main reason for their return.
Her hometown, Enping, a remote city in west Guangdong, has long and deep ties with the South American country. From the late 19th to the early 20th century, it became a key origin for Chinese migration to Venezuela.
The Chinese population in Venezuela peaked at around 400,000 by 2013 – when former president Hugo Chavez died and Maduro assumed office – with roughly 70 per cent tracing their ancestry to Enping, according to those who have returned to China.
