From college students to entrepreneurs and pensioned retirees, there are thousands of Venezuelans whose finances fell into limbo after the decision made by the government of President Hugo Chávez to close its consulate in Miami, a measure that threatens money transfers from the oil-producing country.

Several dozen people waved signs at Bayfront Park in Miami on Saturday to protest the decision.

The “administrative shutdown”, announced by Chávez recently in retaliation for the U.S. decision to expel that country’s consul in Miami, affects dozens of thousands of Venezuelans who go to that diplomatic office every year to process paperwork that goes from renewing their passports to obtaining documents to receive dollar transfers from the South American nation.

It also threatens to alter significantly the commercial trade between Florida and that country. Despite the hostile rhetoric displayed by Chávez against the United States, Venezuela continues to be an important trade partner for Florida, which imports more than $4.5 billion in merchandise.

Yet that commercial flow, on which hundreds of Venezuelan companies in Florida depend, could be at risk due to the “administrative shutdown” that went into effect this week. A large part of the documentation and paperwork required in those transactions were done at the consulate.

“The impact this will have on the commercial part is huge,” said Lesly Simón, president of the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce.

“In 2011, more than 64,000 documents were issued by the consulate, most of them certificates of origin for export. … Many companies will now have to assume the cost of traveling to a consulate in another city for those procedures,” Simón added.

Chávez announced the closing on Friday in retaliation for the State Department’s decision to expel Consul Livia Acosta, in the context of accusations that she allegedly participated in an Iranian plot against the United States.

The measure by the Venezuelan government, described as temporary while a final decision is made, leaves more than 200,000 Venezuelans who live in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina without a consular office near for their documentation procedures.

And there are a lot of questions whether the closest Venezuelan consulate, located in New Orleans, is capable of processing the required procedures. According to Simón, that diplomatic office assists about 15 persons a day, a much lower number than the more than 400 people assisted in Miami on any given day.

Many of those visits were from commercial representatives processing certificates of origin and other documents indispensable to do business in Venezuela, given the strict control mechanisms imposed by the government on currency exchange.

The government’s Commission of Foreign Currency Administration requires the certificate of origin to sell dollars to the entrepreneur in Venezuela who will pay for the merchandise acquired in the United States.

And the new restrictions could generate problems in the normal flow of goods to Venezuela. Miami has become an important supply point for automobile spare parts and foodstuffs, for example, as well as shoes and clothes.

“Only in the city of Doral, there are more than 100 cargo-handling companies whose operations could get complicated,” Simón said.

But it is not only trade that is at stake under the new measure. José Hernández, the consulate’s former media chief, said that the tasks the consulate performed for the Venezuelan community in Miami were many.

“This will harm many elderly who receive their pensions from Venezuela,” Hernández said. “All such procedures are done at the consulate, where the necessary affidavit to claim the pensions is issued.

Hernández said that this is a procedure done by thousands of people from Miami due to the high number of Venezuelans who have decided to retire in this city.

The closing of the consulate also creates problems to the thousands of Venezuelans who need to renew their passports, process death certificates of relatives who have passed away in Florida and register children of Venezuelan parents born in the United States.

The diplomatic office also processed the legalization of documents, including sale contracts and navigation IDs, all vital documents for trade.

The procedures to obtain dollars from the Foreign Currency Commission are also essential for the thousands of Venezuelan students in Florida, whose source of income is now also in jeopardy.