I would like to start by saying that my analysis of the situation in Venezuela is based on facts and a permanent live connection with the pulse of the country. As a double American / French citizen married to a beautiful Venezuelan lady, father of the sweetest Venezuelan girl, I am in constant communication with family and business partners to try to objectively grasp what is happening.
Today’s reality is that the Venezuelan people are on 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 to them. I urge you to read it, share it, and take the necessary steps to help Venezuelans lift their country out of obscurity 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 tracts 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 vibrant economy, a safe and secure environment, and a bright future for their children.
So what happened?
“The overwhelming presence of oil acted, indirectly, to distort the economy and national life. The privileged sectors of the population began to acquire the mining mentality of the new wealthy spenders. The uninterrupted flow of dollars encouraged imports and expanded trade to to such a degree that the nation became primarily a consumer of foreign products. 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 paralyzed Venezuela and turned it into an unproductive and corrupt society, with egregious inequalities, leading to extremism and the arrival of Hugo Chávez in 1999.
Chávez came to power on the premise that he would break 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 America in its quest for free trade, even though his power lay in oil and refinery revenues. from the United States.
What Chávez created in Venezuela is a benevolent dictatorship; a form of government in which an authoritarian leader has absolute political power over the state through the exercise of elected representatives, maintaining sufficient democratic decision-making to exist and maintaining the illusion of “democracy.” Political genius and charming manipulator, he managed to change the constitution, take control of all branches of government and control all the media.
Chávez died earlier this year, but during his 14 years in power, he crippled the economy, squandered the profits from the biggest oil boom since the 1970s, and managed to steadily reduce oil production by nationalizing PDVSA, a privately owned oil company. of the state. appoint executives and managers based on their political convictions rather than their experience.
Once diagnosed with deadly cancer, Chávez chose a successor, Nicolás Maduro, a Caracas subway driver, union activist and later minister, whose only qualification for the position was to be “Chavista” from the earliest days. Maduro assumed the presidency earlier this year in a rigged election. Unfortunately for Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro is not just a “fraud”, he is clearly incompetent, unable to lead 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 murders per 100,000 residents. Only in Caracas there is a murder every hour, which makes 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 misalignment of the exchange rate, the fastest growing debt, and one of the most precipitous falls in productive capacity; including that of the critical oil sector.
During the Chávez era, the nation also fell to the bottom of rankings that measure international competitiveness, ease of doing business, or attractiveness to foreign investors, and was at the top of the list of the most corrupt countries in the world. world; quite a paradox for a leader whose rise to power was based on the promise to end corruption and crush the oligarchy. The Bolivarian bourgeoisie; tea BolibourgeoisAs Venezuelans call the new oligarchy, made up of close allies of the regime’s leaders, their families and friends, they have accumulated enormous wealth through corrupt deals with the government. This is also part of the unfortunate legacy that Chávez has left.
Last but not least, during his 14-year reign, Chávez relentlessly tried to align Venezuela with Cuba, both politically and economically. It is now clear that he succeeded, as Venezuela is currently facing multiple shortages including food, electricity and even basic necessities such as toilet paper.
The silent majority have had enough. People are suffering in their daily life. Hope for a better future is disappearing and the last elections proved to the majority that the democratic process now is just an illusion. Every day, people act; mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, students and teachers, small business owners, even older people are on the street risking their lives as I write these lines.
People are dying, tortured, abused 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 repression 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, analyzing the situation, collecting data and trying to define a course of action. The world media, inexplicably, is not covering the events in the way they should. It is up to us, the people, lovers of the democratic process, individual freedom and human rights, to act the only way we can; that’s communicating, sharing information, and making sure the truth is known.
This article is a small piece in the ocean of information and misinformation that is circulating, but I urge you to search for yourself, search for the truth and help the children of Venezuela to have the future they deserve.
