Venezuela’s Socialist Crisis Continues, Lights Go Out in Caracas

About 15 years ago, Caracas was a bustling modern metropolis with world-class restaurants and high-end designer stores. But today, the power isn’t going on. 

“Living in Caracas is hellish and inhumane,” said Ángel Luis Lecuna, a lawyer who has had 10 relatives flee Venezuela already. “It’s so bad it makes you think the government is being negligent just to humiliate us.”

In order to leave the city, citizens have to sell their property for so much less than it’s worth, that is if they can even sell it. 

“There are an enormous number of properties [for sale] because everyone wants to leave,” said Aura Corzo, a real-estate agent who fleed to Colombia recently. “They’re desperate to go.”

“In the exclusive Palos Grandes neighborhood, the owners of a 3,900-square-foot apartment once valued at $800,000 have been trying to sell for two years. They recently rejected an offer for $400,000, according to their real-estate agent. Like many other Caraqueños who can afford it, they ended up simply locking their doors and quietly moving abroad. That way they hope to ward off squatters or any effort by the Socialist government to expropriate unoccupied apartments,” writes the WSJ. “The owner of a one-story house with a big lawn was willing to take $250,000 but scoffed at an offer for $100,000, a quarter of what he paid seven years ago. The prospective buyers “are looking to benefit from the desperation of people,” said the owner, who needs the money to move to the U.S.”

Then there’s the issue of physically leaving the country. Most international flights have been canceled and city’s transportation system also isn’t operating. 

“The country I grew up in is no more,” said a 66-year-old therapist to the WSJ. “It will take at least two generations to get the country back on its feet. I don’t think I’ll see it in my lifetime.”

Most blame the country’s leader, who is up for reelection this Sunday. 

Maduro’s administration has about a 22 percent approval rating, but he remains in power by using fear tactics and by controlling voters with the limited food supply. Not to mention, Maduro has also barred his other opposition candidates from running against him. So Maduro will win this Sunday despite what has happened to Venezuela during his rule. 

 

Author’s note: Again, Venezuela is a prime example proving that socialism will ultimately fail. When it was introduced in the country, the oil industry was booming so Chavez was able to “distribute” the wealth. But that can only last for a short time period. Maduro just keeps printing more money, making the bolívar worthless and only making it impossible for the currency to bounce back from inflation. Without currency that is worth anything to buy the scarce goods available, how can Venezuelans survive?

 

Editor’s note: We noted before that Venezuela is gone, nothing remains but a shell. No Democracy, no social structure and no economy despite having the biggest oil reserves on the planet.