With the US government’s daily antics taking the forefront of most media coverage, not enough attention has been directed to the unimaginable situation in Venezuela. Inflation as well as crime rates in Venezuela are highest in the world, people are starving, anti-government protests take place in the streets every week, and people are dying due to a lack of access to medicine and basic needs. Yet, no one seems to really be talking about the major issues taking place in Venezuela. So… what’s going on? How did it start? Who is responsible?
It all began with oil. Venezuela has always been an oil-rich country, it has been the driving force of the economy for several years. However, after oil prices crashed in 2015, the money devoted to social programs and food subsidies simply stopped flowing in, massively impacting the amount of foreign currency set aside for importing essential goods, such as medicine. This hit the healthcare system hard, and several controllable diseases once thought to be out of the picture, such as malaria, diphtheria, and AIDS, are back on the rise and medical supplies are not accessible to the majority of the population.
In addition, it certainly does not help that lower productivity, mismanagement, and widespread corruption have introduced an inflation rate of 720.5% this year, making money almost worthless. To try and solve the issue of affordability, the government greatly decreased prices of key items like flour, eggs, milk, and toilet paper and just began to print more money. However, when it comes to inflation this is one of the worst things you can do, but considering the government is taking advice from Luis Salas, an economy czar that believes that inflation “does not exist in real life.”
Essentially, this led to the cost of several products being lesser than the cost of production, meaning farmers and domestic producers on top of having next to no imported materials to work with, are now pretty much paying to work. So they just stopped. Now, whatever meagre supply of food is left on the shelves of supermarkets is trailed by 8 hour lines by those who can barely afford it, while the rest fight for government assigned rations that families can attain once a week, but do not provide sufficient amounts nor nutrition. In 2016, 72% of the population lost an average of 19 pounds due to malnutrition. On top of all of this, the Venezuelan media is heavily censored, the government continues to refuse international aid, riots swarm the streets, crime rampages the country, and the president, Nicolás Maduro, slowly but surely inches towards an authoritarian dictatorship.
Things in Venezuela are way out of control and not many people know about it. People are suffering, dying because they cannot afford food, and losing the battle against treatable illnesses, and it is not in the main stream of news. There’s not much we can do abroad nor in Venezuela itself, except raise awareness and protest for fair treatment. If the government is not held accountable for its actions and the people are not provided the humanitarian services required to survive, the problem will remain rooted within the country and nothing will change. Additionally, if you would like to donate money towards food, clean water, or emergency medical care, there are several methods to do so. Most importantly though, stay in the loop and keep updated on the situation. If we continue to turn a blind eye to problems in other countries, people will not receive the help and justice they deserve.
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