Hi, my name is Daniela... as you all might supose, yes I'm venezuelan, 23 years old and actually living in Buenos Aires - Argentina.
Is very common for me to hear a lot of people asking the same question again and again "Is Venezuela as bad as the news say?" and my answer is always the same "Yes and is worst than they say". Why? what happened? what's wrong? is Maduro's fault right, because with Chavez everything was fine?
Let's start from the beginning, when I was born in 1994 we were living in capitalism and I don't remember anything from that time exept that I was a happy little girl and I never heard my mom saying "I don't have milk, rice, meat or anything to cook". I can only remember the time when Chavez won presidentials, I was on my bed watching TV and they were talking about the new president and his first desition "We are going to change this constitution". I was too young to understand that we were starting to walk into a terror path.
I swear before this moribund constitution (...) that I will promote democratic transformations.
I wish I could travel to past and prevent people from voting for Chavez, but I can't... A few years after his win, everything started to change, he had a discurs similar to Hitler I think.
Well, then everything went upside down, people went crazy to idolate him, to become blind and obsesed with this man. And how do I know all this? Because my whole family suffered this sickness. I lived in a popular hood named "23 de enero" very dangerous and recognized for suporting Chavez. Yes I lived there, I growed up around Chavism and guns... that was the first thing that Chavez did, he gave power to the people but not any power, he gave guns and money to support and defend him.
So... I was witness of how the people started to change, how the food started to dissapear, how the people while less had they most supported him, how Chavez started to control the people with food, education, health... everything was taken from private companies to public administration. In conclusion, they had the whole power.
To the question in your title, my Magic 8-Ball says:
Hi! I'm a bot, and this answer was posted automatically. Check this post out for more information.
Good post
Hi, I´m English, but living in the north of Brazil. When I lived in Roraima we used to go to Santa Helena de Uairén to go duty-free shopping, and buy cheap imports from the Chinese supermarkets. The trips stopped before I left Roraima as the economy went into decline and inflation took hold and the shops in Santa Helena closed.
I fel angry because I kow the Americans have interfered massively in Venezuela, sirring up opposition, throwing false propaganda around, and interfering with the price of oil, to try to destroy economies like Venezuela and Russia. I know the ONLY interest the Americans have in Venezuela is oil. They have zero interest in helping the population, but I do like to hear directly from Venezuelans, as it helps to balance my over-all view of what is happening there. The news in Brazil is heavily pro-America, with our president Temer selling off national assets to foreign companies, incluiding oil drilling rights. Very sad. I hope Venezuela cn pull out of this crisis, but even Chaves would have had difficulty, and Maduro is not the politician Chaves was. If you have any influence over your friends and family still in Venezuela, in my opinion America should NOT be allowed in, by the front door or the back, but it would seem that Maduro will not save your country. Good luck. I hope you will get the chance to go back to a ´New Improved Venezuela´ some day soon! How´s life in Argentina???
Hi! I'll keep writing about my life in Venezuela, you have to know I'm 23 years old and We have almost 20 years of socialism so thats all I know. I moved to Argentina because it was imposible to me to live in a country out of posibilities for young people, because is not only the goberment or Americans, is something cultural, when I had to go to work I was always afraid of insecurity.
And btw I'm a web developer, I had a "good" salary but it wasnt enough because Venezuela have a dollar economy with a salary in Bolivares, so I earned 20$ when basic salary was 5$. You can't live with that amount of money in any country. Is a complicated situation I think is a combination of American's actions and venezuelan's culture.
Economists are quite serious about the concept of "raw material curse", which is supposed to explain how it happens that rich countries are poor, that raw materials do not translate into an increase in wealth, but vice versa - they worsen the situation.
The Empires thus ensures that the new player does not destabilize the balance of power.
I'll keep writing more about Venezuela's situation from my perspective :) since I was living there and how has been the experience of leaving my family.