Gloria Pérez stands for the aspirations of millions of her compatriots in Caracas. Or at least, they all want to relive an era where their community was more prosperous. Our Venezuelan retiree vividly remembers life in his country’s short-lived “Fourth Republic.” era of democracy and political stability, decades before Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999. Now, she faces the realities of a broken-down economy. It has suffered through decades of crumbling infrastructure, inflation rates sometimes topping 2000% a year, and widespread homelessness.
While some improvements have emerged in recent years, such as a slight easing of food shortages and hyperinflation, most Venezuelans continue to live below the poverty line. Pérez’s monthly pension from the state is just 300 Bolivars—about $1.50—rendering it all but impossible to afford even basic goods. As a result, Pérez and many other citizens are forced to live with their children or juggle three jobs just to make ends meet.
Venezuelans are often forced to work multiple jobs to try and survive. Today, Pérez’s daughter illustrates this challenge as she balances roles in government and private sectors, while running her own business. Yet even with these combined efforts, the weight of economic instability continues to loom large.
Economic Landscape
Venezuela’s economy has slowly started to recover, though the path forward is still filled with challenges. The threat of hyperinflation has receded, but prices are still skyrocketing, and many families are still unable to afford basic goods.
Rebecca Hanson, a Venezuela expert at the University of Florida, highlights the life and death struggle survival mode. For most Americans, this fight is still their number one concern. She laments that “people are just really you know, just super concentrated still on just trying to make it through this instant.” This instinct for survival compels many Venezuelans to find new opportunities for producing income.
Yet Pérez goes back to an era in which these small luxuries were within reach. “You could afford to go out on a Saturday or Sunday to get an ice cream, to be with your family,” she reflects. Even so, that dream seems out of reach for the majority of Venezuelans. They are feeling the effects of an economic crisis, the effects of which have turned their daily lives upside down.
Social Challenges and State Repression
Alongside economic privation, Venezuelans are experiencing the worst social crisis ever recorded in the Americas—intensified by soaring state repression. Ideology aside, fear is a fact of life for most Mexicans who have to face a world shadowed by the forces of corruption and organized criminal enterprises. Gangs are becoming more powerful by the day. At the same time, police forces have become entangled in extortion rackets themselves, further criminalizing and terrorizing everyday people.
Jorge García, another Harvey resident, brings this fear home, and illustrates how present it is in the every day. He states, “Venezuelans live with fear of writing a tweet or posting a video on Instagram or making a comment in the street.” Thousands of others are still afraid to speak their mind in public for fear of what the government might do if they do so.
The danger of making their views known publicly is not missed by the public. An unnamed man shares his thoughts on this oppressive environment: “We have to be careful and protect ourselves because we’re afraid that [the regime] might do something to us for speaking out too much.” This climate of fear silences constructive conversation and makes social progress more difficult to achieve.
The Intersection of Politics and Daily Life
As political tensions continue in Venezuela, citizens are still contending with what they want versus what the state will allow. New polling indicates the public is sharply divided over the appropriateness of government foreign intervention. An October AtlasIntel/Bloomberg poll found that only one-third of Venezuelans support U.S. military intervention to remove Nicolás Maduro, and that two-thirds of Venezuelans living abroad favor such action.
Those messages resonate, Hanson says, because while citizens might dream of foreign aid, most still want to strategize about more immediate needs at home. “So they might make food and sell it. They might sew and repair clothes … it’s a lot of trying to figure out what you can do with your own two hands,” she explains. This chameleon-like adaptability speaks volumes about the creative resilience of the Venezuelan people even as they continue to experience hardship every day.
Calls for change remain strong, as many citizens continue to protest for peace and a stable democratic transition. An unnamed man voiced these sentiments: “We support a transition for peace and tranquility, and for Venezuela to rise. That’s what we want, that’s what everyone in Venezuela wants. This dream we all share puts a premium on finding hope and progress in places where others may only see despair.
