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CNN Special Reports
CNN Special Report: United Shades of America: Venezuelans in Florida. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired August 23, 2020 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST: I'm W. Kamau Bell. This episode of UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA shot in late-2019, months before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country and also months before George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police and the wave of protest that followed.
At that time, I was welcomed into people's homes, and I was able to have the kind of intimate conversations that have become impossible during the pandemic. You see handshakes, high-fives and hugs. Now I'm grateful to have had that opportunity, and I look forward to being able to do it again someday. I hope you enjoy this episode.
BELL (voice-over): Look, I know a little bit about a lot of things. I'm the annoying guy, a Wikipedia stuff in the middle of conversations. But there are some things where even Wikipedia is like, nope, read a book, talk to the people who know and keep your mouth shut.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Explain all of that to me.
HELENA POLEO, VENEZUELAN-AMERICAN JOURNALIST AND POLITICAL STRATEGIST: I will try.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL (voice-over): For me, Venezuela is one of those issues.
This week, I'm in and around Miami, talking to Venezuelans and Venezuelan-Americans about everything going on in Venezuela. I'm also learning how to hit the 90-mile-per-hour fastball.
(MUSIC)
BELL (voice-over): When I told my producers that I wanted to do an episode about Venezuelans, they said, great, we're going to Miami. And I said, but isn't Miami just Cubans? They said, no, college dropout, it's a hub for all Latin Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: So what do you like about Miami?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe, the diversity here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of Dominicans, Cubans, few Colombian communities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Colombian.
BELL: Can I ask what's your racial ethnic background is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just - I'm mixed white I guess.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bunch of different whites, I don't know.
BELL: Bunch of different whites.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL (voice-over): The biggest population of Venezuelans and Venezuelan-Americans in the United States is right outside Miami in the suburb of Doral. Yes, that Doral. Between 2000 and 2017, the Venezuelan-born population in the U.S. increased 352 percent. The reason?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Violent clashes erupt in Venezuela.
BELL (voice-over): An unimaginable economic and political crisis in their country.
Look, I've read articles, watched news clips, gone on a "Democracy Now!" bender (ph), and I still haven't been able to figure out how it got this bad.
Nicolas Maduro says he's the president. But he's got all the hallmarks of a dictator. One, they'll (inaudible); two, using that to control the military; three, not taking care of his people.
And that's clear when you come here. Doral, Florida, a.k.a. Doralzuela. The number of Venezuelans seeking asylum grows every day while our government's interest in granting asylum shrinks every day. For families that are newly arrived, they are crushed by international chest-thumping disguised as politics and trying to figure out how to start their lives all over again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Hello. Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Hi.
BELL: Are these for you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL (voice-over): Kamau etiquette tip, when showing up to a home for the first time, bring the gifts. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's saying thank you.
BELL: Yes, that's all right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL (voice-over): Carolina (ph) and Manuel (ph) were successful professionals in their hometown of La Trinidad, a beautiful neighborhood in the Capital of Caracas. But as the economic and security situation worsened, they decided to leave it all behind seeking a better life for their two daughters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: When did you all get here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This year.
BELL: How has it been? How has the adjustment been?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were almost running away from Venezuela. So we were nervous about what we were going to find here.
BELL: And what did you do in Venezuela? What was your life like there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You start or I start?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm medical scientist.
BELL: Medical scientist?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I was director of my own lab. I have 80 people behind (inaudible) to see my command.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was tough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was - that was five months ago.
(LAUGHTER)
BELL: Yes. That was a long--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A long time ago.
BELL: That was way back in five months ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, yes.
BELL: What jobs have you had since you've been here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here? Wow!
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I come here, my first job was, like, dishwasher. And that was tough.
BELL: It's got to be humbling to go from being at the top of your profession as a medical scientist to washing dishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, completely.
BELL: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm really thankful for the people, the people who gave me the job.
BELL: Can you tell me what life was like, what was life was like there, and why you really felt like we have to go?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was really concerned about my girls, about our safety over there.
BELL: I heard of people - like, some people stealing water--
[22:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steal water--
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stealing--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They steal power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --everything--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They steal everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --to light bulbs.
BELL: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Sometimes from our house.
BELL: They steal water from your house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. The garbage can, the big one--
BELL: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --was stole.
BELL: Stole the garbage can?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With that - yes, because with that, they could take water out of the river and--
BELL: Wow!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: --store it in their homes. People steal everything they see they can steal.
BELL: Oh, my - and I know that the money has really been devalued, right? Like, I--
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.
