Little Venezuela? Diaspora in New York fuels the birth of a new neighborhood in the Big Apple

Just as there was talk of ‘Westonzuela’ in Florida and Venezuelans were increasingly coming to Katy in Texas, they are now starting to talk about how migrants from that South American country are making their way to Queens, New York, to the point that many see as if the birth of a “Little Venezuela” was starting to be noticed.

In Queens, the Spanish one hears has a Caribbean-Venezuelan flavor and in the streets even the hot dogs are starting to be replaced by the “pepitos” from Caracas.

On Roosevelt Avenue, La Nación notes, the “pepito,” or sandwich, is demanded and savored by those attracted by the way Víctor Hernández, a food stand worker, browns the bread until it is au gratin with a kitchen torch.

A little Venezuela

Many Venezuelans who made the difficult and expensive journey to pursue the “American dream” arrived in the Big Apple, in New York.

Now there, in that American economic heartland, there is talk of whether a high presence of citizens of that country can give rise to the formation of a neighborhood, as has already happened with Chinatown, Curry Hill, Little Italy and Little Haiti. La Nacion.

Near where Víctor prepares the “pepitos” under a tent, cachapas and coffee are sold.

Moreover, the tricolor flag stands out because it hangs in the window of an Ecuadorian restaurant. There, the karaoke of Venezuelan romantic classics is another signal that immigrants, from Caracas or Maracaibo, among others, are working in New York or looking for better opportunities.

The phenomenon is analyzed by Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, an immigrant advocacy group, who told La Nación about the possibility of facing the birth of a ‘Little Venezuela’: “It always starts with a restaurant or a food cart.”

“These immigrants are not only building a prosperous community, but they are also providing jobs and generating revenue for the local economy, helping the city through difficult times,” he added.

The Chicago government’s strategies to protect migrants sleeping in tents on the streets from the cold

The Diaspora

Rayquel Delgado is 24 years old and says she lives with her cousin in Jackson Heights. “I feel comfortable here because everyone speaks Spanish,” she said confidently.

The aforementioned southern media recall that more than 136,000 new immigrants have arrived in New York since the spring of 2022, many of them from Venezuela. A year earlier, he points out, of the city’s 8.7 million New Yorkers, only 15,182 of the city’s residents were of Venezuelan descent, 12,250 of whom were born in Venezuela.

In September 2023, the mayor of the Big Apple and the governor of New York State, Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul, assured that “thousands of jobs were available in the city and agricultural areas of northern Mexico. ‘state, but these were only available to those who had a work permit, who in turn had to submit an asylum application.’

They would target Venezuelans who qualified for TPS for these vacancies, El Universo reported.

New York has 400,000 jobs available for migrants and the United States National Guard will handle every case

Venezuela present in Queens

Donovan Richards, Queens borough president and son of a Jamaican immigrant, says, “Every day we hear about the arrival of new immigrants to the Queens borough.”

A doctor who worked at a hospital in Táchira, in the Venezuelan Andes, Sandra Sayago, arrived in New York in 2016. She married Alfredo Herrero, owner of the Mexican restaurant that opened the doors for her to work. Five years later, in 2021, both opened an eatery called El Budare Café, in a section of Roosevelt Avenue, and the potential customers are Colombian, Ecuadorian and Mexican immigrants.

New businesses, created by Venezuelan immigrants or intended for them, represent, according to a sociologist consulted by La Nación, “one of the first steps in the process of creating an ethnic neighborhood.”

The Venezuelan migration is gaining momentum in Queens… the bracelets woven with the colors of the Venezuelan flag, the still timid sale of sweets typical of that country, but the sought-after pepitos, arepas, cachapas and coffee are becoming mandocas, added empanadas and grills and there are companies that sell them and whoever goes there will see songs from the salsa genre that Caracas danced ‘full’ in the 80s and 90s, and that is called Trunk sauce. These were songs that they archived or shelved due to lack of success, but collected them to sell them, he explains in a video that GelderS Music has posted on YouTube.

That trunk sauce He conquered his audience “with his slow rhythm and lyrics full of eroticism or romance.”

With music and food, as well as a willingness to work their way through work, the Venezuelan community is starting to stand out in Queens, New York.

(JO)