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

<p>Just when you think things couldn&&num;8217&semi;t get worse in Nicolas Maduro&&num;8217&semi;s socialist Venezuela&comma; it does&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The lights are going out in Caracas&comma; the capital and largest city in Venezuela&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But&comma; the power isn&&num;8217&semi;t the only resource the city&&num;8217&semi;s citizens no longer have access to either&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This city is unraveling fast&colon; Water doesn&rsquo&semi;t reach most homes&comma; mass transit is grinding to a halt and businesses are closing in the face of hyperinflation expected to top 13&comma;000&percnt; this year&period; Shotgun-toting troops wearing camouflage and balaclavas run checkpoints&period; Cash is so scarce people can&rsquo&semi;t pay for the smallest necessities like bus fare&comma;&&num;8221&semi; writes&nbsp&semi;<em>The Wall Street Journal&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The socialist country has been in a state of chaos ever since Hugo Chavez introduced socialism political system back in 1999&period; In 2013&comma; Maduro assumed office and the dire situation has only continued to get worse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is a massive shortage of staple goods and medicine and the price for these scarce items have skyrocketed&comma; making them no longer affordable&period; Ironically&comma; the country has some of the richest oil reserves&period; But it&&num;8217&semi;s sales from its crude oil exports has dropped by 40 percent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Without the oil industry to keep the country afloat&comma; the citizens have been forced to either starve on the &&num;8220&semi;Maduro diet&&num;8221&semi; or attempt to get out of the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But this is easier said than done&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div>About 15 years ago&comma; Caracas was a bustling modern metropolis with world-class restaurants and high-end designer stores&period; But today&comma; the power isn&&num;8217&semi;t going on&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>&ldquo&semi;Living in Caracas is hellish and inhumane&comma;&rdquo&semi; said &Aacute&semi;ngel Luis Lecuna&comma; a lawyer who has had 10 relatives flee Venezuela already&period; &ldquo&semi;It&rsquo&semi;s so bad it makes you think the government is being negligent just to humiliate us&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In order to leave the city&comma; citizens have to sell their property for so much less than it&&num;8217&semi;s worth&comma; that is if they can even sell it&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;There are an enormous number of properties &lbrack;for sale&rsqb; because everyone wants to leave&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Aura Corzo&comma; a real-estate agent who fleed to Colombia recently&period; &ldquo&semi;They&rsquo&semi;re desperate to go&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;In the exclusive Palos Grandes neighborhood&comma; the owners of a 3&comma;900-square-foot apartment once valued at &dollar;800&comma;000 have been trying to sell for two years&period; They recently rejected an offer for &dollar;400&comma;000&comma; according to their real-estate agent&period; Like many other Caraque&ntilde&semi;os who can afford it&comma; they ended up simply locking their doors and quietly moving abroad&period; That way they hope to ward off squatters or any effort by the Socialist government to expropriate unoccupied&nbsp&semi;apartments&comma;&&num;8221&semi; writes the&nbsp&semi;<em>WSJ&period;<&sol;em>&nbsp&semi;&&num;8220&semi;The owner of a one-story house with a big lawn was willing to take &dollar;250&comma;000 but scoffed at an offer for &dollar;100&comma;000&comma; a quarter of what he paid seven years ago&period; The prospective buyers &ldquo&semi;are looking to benefit from the desperation of people&comma;&rdquo&semi; said the owner&comma; who needs the money to move to the U&period;S&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Then there&&num;8217&semi;s the issue of physically leaving the country&period; Most international flights have been canceled and city&&num;8217&semi;s transportation system also isn&&num;8217&semi;t operating&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;The country I grew up in is no more&comma;&rdquo&semi; said a 66-year-old therapist to the&nbsp&semi;<em>WSJ&period;<&sol;em> &ldquo&semi;It will take at least two generations to get the country back on its feet&period; I don&rsquo&semi;t think I&rsquo&semi;ll see it in my lifetime&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Most blame the country&&num;8217&semi;s leader&comma; who is up for reelection this Sunday&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Maduro&rsquo&semi;s administration has about a 22 percent approval rating&comma; but he remains in power by using fear tactics and by controlling voters with the limited food supply&period;&nbsp&semi;Not to mention&comma; Maduro has also barred his other opposition candidates from running against him&period; So Maduro will win this Sunday despite what has happened to Venezuela during his rule&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><strong>Author&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong>&nbsp&semi;Again&comma; Venezuela is a prime example proving that socialism will ultimately fail&period; When it was introduced in the country&comma; the oil industry was booming so&nbsp&semi;Chavez was able to &&num;8220&semi;distribute&&num;8221&semi; the wealth&period; But that can only last for a short time period&period; Maduro just keeps printing more money&comma; making the bol&iacute&semi;var worthless and only making it impossible for the currency to bounce back from inflation&period; Without currency that is worth anything to buy the scarce goods available&comma; how can Venezuelans survive&quest;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> We noted before that Venezuela is gone&comma; nothing remains but a shell&period; No Democracy&comma; no social structure and no economy despite having the biggest oil reserves on the planet&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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