Venezuela: Hell In South America
“In Venezuela, you have to work 20 hours to buy a medium sized pineapple” -Harvard Center Of International Development.
Five years of crisis, 26.616 deaths in 2017 ( Venezuelan violence observatory. OVV), and the continued reign of the former president, Hugo Chavez (1954–2013), is just an overview, of how, one of the wealthiest countries in South America, went to Hell.
Let’s explain what is going on, and how did it happen. Venezuela has always suffered from the weak, and corrupt government, but they were so wealthy, that the fact that, the government “stole” as much as they wanted, never hurt anybody. Then, when the inflation comes, the whole country is turned around.
Hugo Chavez, took Venezuela’s liberty, peace, and its citizens happiness, by attempting to make them equal. Although Chavez had a lot to do with the crisis, it all started getting worse when he died from cancer, March 5th, 2013, and Nicolas Maduro inherited his charge, as the new president of Venezuela.
-What happened after Chavez Died?
Many politicians opposed to Maduro’s take on government, and the main solution, was to throw them in jail, so they couldn’t expose the corruption of his dictatorship. There are currently 338 registered political prisoners (clarin,2018). However, the fact that they were prisoners, didn’t stop them from fighting corruption.
Less than two months after Maduro took charge, the revolution started, Venezuelans with hopes, and dreams, started something they were hoping, would bring back the fair, wealthy, Happy Venezuela from 40 years ago. But that didn’t happen.
-What is happening today?
Today, may 24th 2018, 89 violent deaths for every 100.000 citizens, 300.000 children about to die from malnutrition (ABC 2017), Venezuela is going through the worst of their days in history, and they have been living in hell, since 2013.
Since the situation in Venezuela doesn’t seem to be changing, people have opted to leave the country, willing to do whatever it takes to succeed anywhere else. For example, Venezuelans in neighbor country, Colombia, would work for “nothing, ” the women are selling their bodies for 7 dollars an hour; meanwhile, their fellow Venezuelan brothers and sisters get burned alive, literally.
“Rocio said she left her home in Venezuela because she could not buy food for her four daughters and herself. She emigrated to Colombia, hoping to find work as a hairdresser and send money to her family. But reality changed her plans. When she arrived in Maicao, a Colombian city in the La Guajira region closest to the border with Venezuela, she was offered a job as a waitress in a bar. After she started, Rocío added, she learned she would also have to wear skimpy clothes and work as a prostitute.” ( Univision news, Migrants, turn to prostitution to escape Venezuela’s crisis).Even though most Venezuelans are leaving, the crisis must get addressed by international organizations. Why international organizations? Maduro has been working on a “solid” corrupted base to guarantee his position.
Even though most Venezuelans are leaving, the crisis must get addressed by international organizations. Why international organizations? Maduro has been working on a “solid” corrupted base to guarantee his position.
In 2017, Nicolas Maduro wasn’t pleased enough with all the pain he caused his country, so he decided to change the constitution for one that would support all of his craziness. “Venezuela decides if, they want the violent terrorists, or the constituent town, that wants peace and prosperity” (Maduro, Nicolas. May 2017), this was the statement he kept on repeating to support his decision, knowing, that if he shared his real reasons with the rest of the world, his dictatorship would be over. Based on corruption, the constitution got changed by Nicolas Maduro. Since the Congress was arranged and elected by his political party, no words against his actions got spoken.
What does the world know about Venezuela?
Maduro not only “bought” the constitution, but he also bought the image the world has of Venezuela. How? He shut down Venezuela’s most important TV channel ( RCTV), by not giving them permission to broadcast locally, depriving Venezuela’s right to know what is going on.
Currently, International Governments are looking for ways to revoke Maduro’s mandate. However, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Recently, Nicolas Maduro got re-elected the president; it seems impossible, right? Well, it is. Behind the act of trying to give the people democracy, elections got held last May 20th. But it was more of a “reality show” in which no one had a say, but Maduro himself. He claims he got 80% of the votes. It is possible he got a reasonable number of votes because he was offering a bag of food in exchange, but he clearly, did not get the most amount of votes.
Economic implications
Everyone is dying of hunger, old illnesses came back, and there is no medicine, some people have to use dog medicine. Doesn’t that sound like a horror movie?. According to Harvard’s Center Of International Development, people have to work at least 20 hours (based on minimum salary) to pay for a medium sized pineapple, which wouldn’t feed a family of 4, for half a day. There is no food, and the supermarkets are almost empty, Venezuelans need help, and they need it now.