Do come back

DUBBED “Little Venezuela”, the southern Syrian town of Sweida offers arepa bread, roads named after Latin American revolutionary leaders and visits from Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez. It has long been known for its Hispanic influence, thanks to generations of Syrians and Lebanese who left in the 19th and 20th centuries to work in South America and who have periodically returned. With enduring links to Argentina, Brazil (where 5% of the people claim Middle Eastern roots), Chile and Venezuela, Syria can boast that it is the world's biggest importer of mate tea. It may soon have more foreign-flavoured enclaves, because expatriates, enticed by economic openings and a chance of investment, are coming back home.

The Syrian government reckons that up to 15m of its citizens reside abroad, leaving 22m at home. They have gone to Canada, Germany, Russia, Sweden and the United States as well as South America. But since 2005, when the government formally declared it was switching from a centrally planned economy to a market one, expatriates have been coming back seemingly in droves—for good.

Damascus, the capital, is their city of choice, then Aleppo. Many of those returning are professionals. In their wake, service firms have multiplied, property prices have burgeoned and investment is up. “Abroad you are just a small part of the country, while in Syria you can be a big fish in a small pond,” says a businessman who spent 20 years in America.

A Ministry for Expatriates was set up in 2002, payments to avoid military service (which returning Syrians dislike) have fallen and conferences are luring people back from the diaspora. The official aim is to attract $77 billion in private investment by 2015. Returning Syrian expatriates may help.

But the risk of disappointment is still high. “I returned to manage one of the biggest malls in Syria but it was tiny compared to my previous one in the Gulf,” says Muhannad al-Mallah, who returned in 2006. “The quality of life was better in Europe,” says another, who works for a foreign charity. “Sometimes I think coming back was the worst decision I ever made.” Others moan that the heralded opportunities never materialise and that a need for connections and the hassle of bureaucracy make it not worth coming back.