I would like to start by saying that my analysis of the situation in Venezuela is based on facts and a permanent live connection on the pulse of the country. As a US/French citizen married to a beautiful Venezuelan lady, father of the sweetest Venezuelan girl, I am in constant communication with family and business associates to try to objectively understand what is going on.
The reality today is that the Venezuelan people are in the streets of Venezuela, fighting for their survival and the future of their children, and it seems that the international media is not paying much attention. I urge you to read it, share it, and take action in any way you can to help Venezuelans lead their country out of darkness and into a bright future.
Venezuela, home to 30 million people, is one of the most charming countries in the world. Its people are warm and loving. Its geography is diverse and often impressive. Its history is rich and fascinating. Its natural resources are substantial; oil, natural gas, iron, gold and minerals. It also has large expanses of arable land and water. If you add the fact that Venezuela is a neighbor of the world’s largest economy, the United States, the Venezuelan people should enjoy the benefits and a vibrant economy, a safe environment and a bright future for their children.
So what happened?
“The overwhelming presence of oil did act, indirectly, to deform the economy and national life. Privileged sectors of the population began to acquire the mining mentality of the nouveau riche spendthrifts. The uninterrupted flow of dollars encouraged imports and expanded trade to such a degree that the nation became primarily a consumer of foreign goods. We began to look too much like that chaotic California, the paradise of adventurers and thieves, during the days of the gold rush.
Rómulo Betancourt, former president of Venezuela 1945-1948, 1959-1964.
It is safe to say that oil wealth, some call it the “oil curse”, has crippled Venezuela into an unproductive and corrupt society, with screaming inequalities, leading to extremism and the arrival of Hugo Chavez in 1999.
Chávez came to power on the premise that he would destroy the peaceful but unacceptable coexistence of wealth, poverty, inequality and social exclusion in Venezuela. He gave a voice to the poorest and had an innate ability to make them feel that he was one of them. He also used his personal charisma, backed by generous aid spending, to build an “anti-empire” designed to counter the US in its crusade for free trade, though his power lay in US revenues. US oil and refineries
What Chavez created in Venezuela is a benevolent dictatorship; a form of government in which an authoritarian leader exercises absolute political power over the state through elected representatives, maintaining sufficient democratic decision-making to exist and maintain the illusion of “democracy”. A political genius and a charming manipulator, he managed to change the constitution, take control of all branches of government and control all the media.
Chavez died earlier this year, but during his 14 years in power, he has crippled the economy, squandered profits from the biggest oil boom since the 1970s and managed to steadily reduce oil production by nationalizing PDVSA, an oil company owned by of the state. appoint executives and managers based on his political convictions rather than his experience.
Once diagnosed with deadly cancer, Chavez handpicked a successor, Nicolas Maduro, a Caracas subway driver, union activist, and later minister, whose only qualification for the job was to be a “Chavista” from the earliest days. Maduro assumed the presidency earlier this year in a rigged election. Unfortunately for Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro is not only a “fraud”, he is clearly incompetent, incapable of leading the country towards a better future, leading it towards economic and social implosion.
The result of the “chavista” revolution is that Venezuela now ranks first in the ranking of violence worldwide. In 2013, 24,763 violent deaths were recorded, breaking a record of 79 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. In Caracas alone, a murder occurs every hour, making it the most dangerous capital on the planet. In addition, Venezuela has one of the largest fiscal deficits in the world, the highest inflation rates, the worst exchange rate misalignment, the fastest growing debt, and one of the steepest drops in productive capacity; including that of the critical oil sector.
During the Chavez era, the nation also fell to the bottom of rankings measuring international competitiveness, ease of doing business, or attractiveness to foreign investors, and rose to the top of the list of the world’s most corrupt countries; Quite a paradox for a leader whose rise to power was based on the promise to eradicate corruption and crush the oligarchy. the Bolivarian bourgeoisie; tea Boliburgueses, as Venezuelans call the new oligarchy, made up of close allies of regime leaders, their families and friends, have amassed enormous wealth through corrupt dealings with the government. This is also part of the unfortunate legacy that Chavez has left behind.
Last but not least, during his 14-year reign, Chavez relentlessly tried to align Venezuela with Cuba, both politically and economically. It is now clear that he succeeded, as Venezuela currently faces multiple shortages, including food, electricity, and even basic necessities like toilet paper.
The silent majority have had enough. People are suffering in their daily lives. The hope for a better future is fading and the last elections showed the majority that the democratic process is now just an illusion. Every day, people take action; mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, students and teachers, small businessmen, even the elderly are out on the streets risking their lives as I write these lines.
People are dying, tortured, mistreated and even raped by the National Guard (GNB). The attack on freedom of expression and Social Networks is total. Twitter announced this week that “the Venezuelan government is blocking images on its website, the latest sign of a crackdown after violent protests that killed at least three people last week.” Maduro also accused the mainstream media of creating confusion. He took the Colombian station NTN24 off the air and yesterday in a national speech criticized Agence France Presse for “manipulating information.”
The governments of the world are relatively calm, they analyze the situation, collect data and try to define a course of action. Inexplicably, the world media is not covering the events as it should. It is up to us, the people, lovers of the democratic process, individual freedom and human rights to act as much as we can; that is communicating, sharing information and making sure the truth comes out.
This article is a small piece in the ocean of information and misinformation that is circulating, but I urge you to look for yourself, seek the truth and help the children of Venezuela to have the future they deserve.