Venezuela seems to be collapsing. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans flee the country, a migration never seen before in Latin America. Experts admit it ‘will be worse than Zimbabwe.’
"This is an aid program the likes of which our country has not seen in its history," President Maduro said when he announced a first package of measures on 17 August, whilst reassuring the crowds that “we are going to recover and take the path of growth and prosperity.”
The minimum wage was increased 35 times, official prices were set for 25 different food products, an increase in fuel prices and services was announced whilst only those who have a ‘Carnet de la Patria’ (an identity document that Maduro has especially introduced) can still receive subsidies for petrol. The currency devalued by a whopping 96 percent and the VAT went from 12 to 16 percent.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Venezuela is going through an epic water shortage. <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewrosati?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@andrewrosati</a> describes life in Caracas <a href="https://t.co/S5Q3HCVyp2">pic.twitter.com/S5Q3HCVyp2</a></p>— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) <a href="https://twitter.com/tictoc/status/1034760174760873985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The law that penalized currency exchange on the black market with prison sentences was abolished and a new group of banknotes has been in circulation since 20 August: The Bolivar is now called the Soberano ('sovereign') and several millions of bolivars are needed to buy a kilogram of cheese or bread.
A week after the announcement “prices have doubled, from food to components for appliances,” explains Caracas electrician Mr Andrés Chacín “What I paid in July for a box of eggs (30 pieces), for that I now get only half. It just goes from bad to worse.”
Professor Luis Oliveros, an economics teacher at the Universidad Metropolitana and the Universidad Central de Venezuela admits that the private sector, especially those with heavy personnel costs such as banks, shops, hospitals or private schools, are the hardest hit.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The collapse of Venezuela has led to a wave of emigration that may eventually surpass the size of the wave of refugees from the Syrian civil war. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SOSVenezuela?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SOSVenezuela</a> <a href="https://t.co/r6x6enA9Hn">https://t.co/r6x6enA9Hn</a> <a href="https://t.co/RGkKVG5z0L">pic.twitter.com/RGkKVG5z0L</a></p>— Victims of Communism (@VoCommunism) <a href="https://twitter.com/VoCommunism/status/1034787973018144768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Mr Manuel Fonseca, a Portuguese immigrant, has a business with second-hand parts on the outskirts of Caracas. He laments that “the income is too low to keep this going, I'm going to close for a year, see how it evolves. My family has already gone back to Portugal and waits for me there."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How Venezuela’s great socialist experiment has brought a country to its knees <a href="https://t.co/oAlvwnaUtz">https://t.co/oAlvwnaUtz</a></p>— The Spectator (@spectator) <a href="https://twitter.com/spectator/status/1034753759908380672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A university study showed that 64 percent of a Venezuelans lost some 11 kilograms in the past year. Eight out of ten respondents admitted that they did not eat very day as per the food shortages.
In essence, as British Magazine the Spectator noted earlier this week, the great ‘socialist experiment that Venezuela had become brought a country to it’s knees.’
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