16 January 2012
A political imbroglio centered in Miami continues to foment between the U.S. State Department and the government of Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, South Florida’s most important source for gasoline and other fuels.
Miami’s imports from, exports to and total trade with the South American nation were all at record levels through November 2011, according to WorldCity analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data available.
Overall Miami trade with Venezuela was $6.18 billion through November, exports were $4.79 billion and imports were up more than 100 percent to $1.39 billion, according to the Census Bureau data, which was released Friday, the same day Chavez announced Venezuela would at least temporarily close its consular office on Brickell Avenue in Miami.
The decision was a response to the U.S. State Department’s decision earlier this week to expel the Miami-based consul, Livia Acosta, who had been accused of participating in an Iranian plot against nuclear facilities in the United States, charges she subsequently denied.
According to a story in the Miami Herald, the State Department expelled the diplomat after a recording linked her to the alleged Iranian plot and the discovery of documents that reveal she is part of Chávez’s secret police. In the recording, made when the consul was a cultural attaché at the Venezuelan Embassy in Mexico City, Acosta allegedly asks a Mexican computer hacker the access codes to nuclear installations in the United States.
Most Venezuelan fuel enters the Miami Customs district at Port Everglades while most of the exports bound for Venezuela fly from Miami International Airport.
Miami exports a wide range of products to the nearby nation, led by cell phones, medical instruments, aircraft engines and parts, computers and parts, pharmaceuticals, car parts and printers.
Overall, Miami accounts for more than 40 percent of all U.S. exports to Venezuela.