Businessman Ernesto Ackerman is the president of Independent Venezuelan American Citizens, a non-profit organization he created to encourage Venezuelans in Miami to be politically active in the United States, as well as in Venezuela.  Through IVAC, Ackerman provides a platform for candidates to speak directly to the Venezuelan community in Miami.   He is also heavily involved with “Clinica Venamher,”  a low-cost, donor-funded medical clinic in Doral, Fla., that provides services to many Venezuelans.  He immigrated to Miami in 1989.

Q: Why did you come to this country, and to Miami?
A: I saw more opportunity for my business here.  [It was] not for any political reasons.

Q: Why did/do Venezuelans come to Miami?
A: We had two immigrations: The first was because people were economically scared.  Those people came, they brought their family here, and the man of the house went back. [He] kept the business in Venezuela. The second immigration are those that are coming now.  They are struggling. The situation has worsened and worsened.  That’s why you have a lot of people emigrating from Venezuela.  There’s a lot of political asylum here, actual political asylum.  We have political prisoners [in Venezuela].  We have prisoners who’ve been in jail for seven years and haven’t had their day in court yet.  We have 35 of those, because of the police.

Q: How did you get involved in IVAC and “Clinica Venamher”?
A: In 2000, there was a mudslide in Venezuela.  Chavez was elected in 1998.  He was having elections at the time of the mudslide, so he didn’t want anybody to know.  He didn’t give any support to the people in Venezuela.  We started to collect food here in Miami, loads of food, to send food, clothing, medicine, everything to Venezuela.  That’s how we met between us, all the Venezuelans, and from that work, we sent more than 400 containers to Venezuela.  That’s how the brotherhood [“Clinica Venamher”] started.  Since then, the problem with Chavez has gotten worse and worse.  More people have been coming over to Miami.  More organizations started.  In 2002, we had a huge rally in Calle Ocho—the biggest rally in Calle Ocho ever.  It was 22 blocks full of people.  That was after the 11th of April, which is when they took Chavez out of power for 48 hours.  It was people from all over the world—not only Venezuelans.

Q: How many Venezuelans are there in Miami?
A: Nobody, not even the consulate, knows how many Venezuelans are here. Sixteen thousand were registered to vote in the Venezuelan elections. But that doesn’t give you anything either because there’s more than 16,000 here.  People talk about how there could be between 100,000 and 150,000 Venezuelans, but nobody knows.

Q: Where are they located?
A: Around Miami, there are three main cities or places where they live—Doral, Kendall, and Weston.  We joke between us.  We call it Westonzuela, Doralzuela.  I would say Weston is where most of them are.

Q: What are the main goals/objectives of IVAC?
A: To teach our children how the government conforms here in the United States; to teach people to know their rights; to help residents become American citizens. We don’t take a [political] position.

Q: How did the people in Miami vote on the referendum to allow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run for reelection indefinitely?
A: Ninety-nine percent against, one percent for.  One hundred votes pro, 7,000 against.

Q: Do you think it’s important for Venezuelans to make their concerns known in English?
A: Yes. We need to get our representatives and our senators involved, in order to know what’s going on.  The only way to do that is [by] talking in English or at least Spanglish.

Q: How do you reach out to Venezuelans through “Clinica Venamher”?
A: We use advertisements in local Venezuelan newspapers and magazines.  Another way is word of mouth.  We do fundraising.

Q: After many Cubans came to Miami during the Castro revolution, Cubans have become a major political force here.  What lessons can Venezuelans take from the Cubans’ experience in Miami?
A: We have a lot to learn from the Cubans.  We respect very much what they did and how they did it.  We follow that.  We have to be thankful to the Cuban community because they have helped us since the beginning. Right now, [Venezuelans] are in Cuba 1959.  The process has just started.  Thank God we have their advice.