Venezuela: from 160,000 emigrants to trade – here’s why the country is so important to Italia
The ties between Italia and Venezuela remain strong thanks to a long-standing cultural presence and significant trade links.
Cultural and commercial ties between Venezuela and Italia go back a long way. And, yes, they have weakened under Nicolás Maduro’s regime, but they have not been severed entirely.
According to the Italian Embassy in Caracas, there are around 160,000 Italian citizens registered with the two consulates (Caracas and Maracaibo, on the Atlantic coast), and it is estimated that there are over 1.5 million Venezuelans of Italian descent (out of a total estimated population of around 30 million).
Emigrants
The Italian presence in Venezuela has historical roots, dating back at least to the post-Second World War period, when Venezuela – buoyed by the oil boom – became one of the most attractive destinations for Italian emigration to the Americas, particularly from Campania, Sicily and Abruzzo.
The Italian presence in Venezuela is second only to that in Argentina and Brazil in South America. It is a presence that has left deep cultural roots, given that this South American country has one of the highest levels of pasta consumption in the world, after Italia.
For years, Italian emigration formed the backbone of the country’s economy: from the 1960s onwards, around a third of Venezuelan industries not linked to the oil sector were owned or managed by Italians and their descendants.
