Cultural Assimilation and Political Participation: Venezuelan Americans in FL

• In Event: The Evolution of Party Membership and Partisanship

Abstract

The 2020 United States presidential election was set to be a challenge for the traditional campaign strategies carried out in the state of Florida. As a swing state that has frequently presented nail-biting results, including acrimonious court challenges, it was likely to upend the unfailing political approach to a critical part of the electorate: Latinx voters. Politics in the state of Florida rely heavily on two key constituencies: retirees and Cuban Americans. The political landscape in Florida has not been spared from the influx of the most recent migrant crisis affecting the Americas, and with a growing community of expatriates, Venezuelan Americans have taken to the polls to exercise their democratic rights and influence. Although there is evidence of low levels of political participation among adult immigrants -over 60% do not vote- (Li and Jones, 2019), there is also research that suggests that many immigrant communities maintain close ties with their home countries and, thus, advocate for change through political participation in the host country (Hanlin, 2010). However, there is additionally a process by which immigrant communities bring their own unique proclivities into the political process, such as imported socialization (Wals, 2009) or imported ideology (Wals, 2013). There is, nevertheless, an important distinction to be made. While the Cuban regime’s national security apparatus has conditioned the political temperament of its Cuban expat community in the United States (Torres, 1999), the Venezuelan diaspora brings not only its aversion to anything related to socialism (a position shared with fellow Cuban Americans), but also an important set of democratic values and experience. In this paper, we argue that Venezuelan Americans have found cultural assimilation by the means of political participation, as a reaction to the implausibility of political change in their home country, rather than a conviction that political intervention will trigger regime change.

Author

• Maria Isabel Puerta, Valencia College