Venezuela 7 Years After the Collapse: Thieves, Fuel Shortages, Hunger, and the Black Market by J.G. Martinez D. for The Organic Prepper
The past few months, thinking of going back to my country has added to my inquietude and taken a toll on my mood. Politics aside, the pandemic alone has changed everything. If tomorrow I was offered a European passport or a Green Card, it would be hard to choose. In the best-case scenario, I accept that I must live the rest of my life as a refugee. However, I think of what that would do to my kiddo. My son would never see his grandparents alive again. If this all continues as it is now, my life expectancy could be reduced to 5-10 years from now. I am notexaggerating.
What life in Venezuela was like before.
Back in 2016, I was watching some educational channels and enjoying a glass of wine in my air-conditioned bedroom. In my free time, I was teaching my kiddo how to operate my CNC equipment. I had him cutting and carving out some pieces, and practicing engraving methods.
I seriously believed things were going to change for good, and I would live long enough to see my kid and my grandsons go to college.
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I´m not so sure now. It is likely many of you reading this are not so sure either.
What life in Venezuela is like now.
My hometown is small and it is (or was) peaceful. Everyone knows each other and you can still go out at night, though there are not too many places to hang out. It is a farming town, with small to medium-size farms. Cattle, pigs, corn, sorghum and tobacco are the main farms. Every now and then, there will be tomatoes grown and a few other things. Back in the day, the very best tomato sauce was produced there and appreciated by the entire country.
We used to manufacture goods such as matches, shoes, freezers, fridges, and more. Then, globalization was introduced. Suddenly, it was cheaper to produce tomato sauce using tomato paste imported from Chile, half a continent away. Now, we light the fire on our kitchen stove with disposable, and extremely expensive, Chinese plastic lighters. In the same way, our national brands of clothing and shoes, like Sergio Valente, Didaven, Laura Shoes, and many others, were replaced by cheap Chinese fakes that were not even close to the same quality.
Now, where the only law is the fear imposed by AK-toting guys, in unidentified vehicles, crime has increased in the countryside and in the cities. Restrictions on importation were lifted and those using foreign currency made huge fortunes importing from abroad. Just a couple containers with 400K worth of Christmas ornaments could be sold at twice that price. (Afterbribing the customs officers.)
(I offer you only this slight perspective now. More will be described in great detail in my book, scheduled to be out this year.)
