Every other week or so, an article on the plight of Venezuela crops up in the news. Sometimes it is a report that there are not enough drugs and supplies for the hospitals; sometimes it is about the lack of food in the markets or about the tragedy of people seeking gold in the Amazonia region to eke out a living. This Sunday the New York Times headline was “Venezuelan Women Lose Access to Contraception and Control of Their Lives.” This story and accompanying photographs, along with countless others, document the horrible truths about the country ever since the presidency of the late Hugo Chavez.
Because I spent time in Venezuela in the late 1970s and 80s, these stories always get my attention. I’ve kept up with Venezuelan friends, most of whom now live in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Over the years I’ve encountered Venezuelans in such diverse places as Dahlonega, GA and Apalachicola, FL, all successful entrepreneurs and “new” Americans.
The Venezuela I knew was prosperous with a viable middle class. There did not seem to be shortages in consumer products and supermarkets. Of course there was also the poverty and corruption too often associated with much of Latin America, and in contrast to the opulence of the rich, there were extensive barrios around Caracas. But there was a dynamism to the country, an optimism and happiness among the people that made life worth living. As an enormously oil-rich country, there was sufficient largesse to make the economy work for most Venezuelans.
All of this prosperity and stability are gone now and have continued to decline during the so-called “Bolivarian Revolution” perpetrated by Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro. Urging nationalism and socialism under the banner of “motherland and socialism,” it has led to dictatorship and cronyism. Mismanagement of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state-owned oil company, has, after some initial successes promoting health care, literacy and reducing poverty, left the country in dire economic straits.
Today Venezuelans are without hope, worse off than ever. The once democratic and prosperous nation is prostrate. I keep asking myself these questions: does a sovereign nation have the right to brutalize its people? do other countries bear responsibility for their neighbors? what can the United States do; what is the role of the Pan American Union?
In the meantime, I wait for justice and cry for Venezuela.
Excellent blog!
Specially sad when you say “there was optimism and happiness”. No more. That’s the more devastating feeling that explode at your face every time you go around the streets. Desolation and empty eyes instead of bustle. That’s the true legacy of these twenty something years of revolution.
Thanks for your comments. I really can’t imagine what it is like for the many Venezuelans who had to leave and start a new life elsewhere. My times in Venezuela were wonderful. I was fortunate to visit lots of places from Parque Canaima to Merida, Maracaibo to Caracas to Ciudad Bolivar, Puerto La Cruz etc.