We’ll get to our Down The Rabbit Hole segment in just a bit but first…SCNOW reports that outgoing Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, sent a letter to Texas governor, Greg Abbott, to ask him to stop sending busloads of migrants, most of whom are Venezuelan, to Chicago as “Our systems are over capacity”.

 More than 8,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August on buses from border states, bought their own passage,  or were subsidized by aid groups.  Note, more than 8,000 migrants crossed the border in Texas yesterday.

 She joins mayors from other Democrat-run cities who claim everything from political stunts to racism as being behind the bussing. Those of us who live in border states would say to all these mayors who were previously so proud of being “sanctuary cities” something like “Welcome to the party!”

 Then we have Reuters reporting that US officials announced that the “humanitarian parole” program for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela will continue after May 11th when Title 42, which enables the rapid deportation of people who enter the US illegally, ends.

 The US and Mexico also said the two countries would accept 100,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (The three countries that previously led the migrant parade to the US) under a family reunification program but gave no time frame.

 There is also a US agreement with Colombia and Panama to combat human smuggling through the dangerous jungle region separating the two countries.

 With all the Venezuelan migrants that continue to pour through the Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous migrant crossings in the world, things don’t seem to be working.

 Then we have Merco Press reporting that the surge in Venezuelan migrants has created some tension between Mexico and the US at the border but that’s not the only border where Venezuelan migrants are an issue.

 The governments of Chile and Peru spent much of the last week trading barbs back and forth with both countries blaming the other for various issues pertaining to Venezuelan migrants.

 I don’t want to get into the whole “tit for tat” thing but it’s a diplomatic mess that exemplifies what is becoming more evident every day. The Venezuela migrant crisis, caused by people fleeing the Maduro regime and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism, is everyone’s problem.

 I just wish more people in the international community would acknowledge the problem for what it is, an entire nation of people fleeing Chavismo and their dictatorial regime.

 Now might be a good time to remind everyone that all the countries in the region widely condemned the US for not having an “open border” policy. They have now instituted controls for Venezuelan migrants as over 20% of the country has decided that living anywhere, under any conditions, is better that starving and having their Human Rights violated by Nicolas Maduro and the Chavistas.

 Then we have La Prensa Latina telling us that there has been a rash of car fires in and around Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second largest city, in the last couple of months.

 Auto technicians say the car fires are caused by contaminated gasoline. (contamination has long been a problem for PDVSA, the Venezuela government-owned oil company, who has to drastically discount oil shipments due to the poor quality of Venezuela’s petroleum products)

 Officials with the fire department have prepared a report for PDVSA. I’m sure we’ll have a response from them shortly.

 And we have Vietnam Plus telling us that Venezuela President (dictator), Nicolas Maduro, affirmed his determination to strengthen relations and multi-faceted cooperation with Vietnam when he received the new Vietnamese Ambassador.

 He went on to praise the Communist Party of Vietnam (Maduro is an avowed Marxist) and expressed his admiration for late president, Ho Chi Minh. I’m shocked there was no historic, strategic agreement signed.

 Now, let’s head Down The Rabbit Hole…

 Chapter 10 continued…

 Just because there wasn’t much news about this initiative doesn’t mean nothing was happening. The Venezuelans tried advancing the project on their own…and failed. Then they got the Cubans to help…and that failed. They finally wised up and went back to the source, China and ZTE. With the advances in technology the Chinese had them set up in short order with biometric smart cards capable of using digital wallets to process payments and, more importantly, upgrading the database. If you have the “Carnet de la Patria” any government bureaucrat can access the following simply by entering your name :

 Family information

 Employment information

 Property owned

 Medical history

 State benefits received

 Presence on social media

 Membership of a political party

 Participation in socialist party events

 Whether you have voted

 The card is not required by the government but over half (approaching 2/3) of the population have registered.The majority of them did so for benefit-related purposes. Retirees get their pensions through the card, remember that from the “El Petro” story? The CLAP government food program is run through the card. In return for supplying the government with basically everything they could possibly want to know about your life…tell them everything and you get a box of food every month or so at cheap prices (free for some). This is the most common (and most insidious) use of the card. With the distribution run by the ‘colectivos’, Chavismo’s private militia with numbers estimated at 400,000 (and overseen by the military) you can expect a visit anytime the government wants your participation or cooperation in something. Comply and your CLAP food box arrives, maybe even on time. If you don’t comply…Good luck!

 More tomorrow….