[OPE] Revolutionary brain drain?

The Bolivarian Brain Drain
By Mac Margolis | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jul 1, 2009

(...) A study just released by the Latin America Economic System, an
intergovernmental economic research institute, reports that the outflow of
highly skilled labor, aged 25 or older, from Venezuela to OECD countries
rose 216 percent between 1990 and 2007. A recent study by Vanderbilt
University in Nashville showed more than one in three Bolivians under 30 had
plans to emigrate, up from 12 percent a decade ago, while 47 percent of
18-year-olds said they planned to leave. Many established professionals have
already made up their minds. "I ask myself if I'm not patriotic enough,"
says Giovanna Rivero, an acclaimed Bolivian novelist who is leaving for a
teaching job at the University of Florida and has no plans to come back.
"But Bolivia is coming apart. There are people who´ve known each other all
their lives who don't talk to one another anymore." (...) A decade ago,
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) ranked as one of the top five energy
companies in the world. Everything changed under Chávez, who named a Marxist
university professor with no experience in the industry to head the company.
PDVSA's top staff immediately went on strike and paralyzed the country.
Chávez responded by firing 22,000 people practically overnight, including
the country's leading oil experts. As many as 4,000 of PDVSA's elite staff
are now working overseas. http://www.newsweek.com/id/204835?digg=1

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Received on Fri Jul 3 20:43:57 2009