I remember the late Hugo Chavez talking about 21st-century socialism. It was going to be Latin America’s future. He was staunchly anti-American. He filled a void where the political class in the country had failed, especially with those in lower-income brackets. With the price of oil being what it was for most of the 2000s, he could promise a lot. Then, it all collapsed. The inflation crisis in the country is almost comical. Basic amenities are now luxuries. Toilet paper is a luxury.
There are rolling blackouts. Zoos are being raided by the people for food. Trash cans are being sifted for food. Venezuelans have eaten their pets. Teachers and members of the nation’s educated class have been relegated to prostitution to get food. It’s a total mess. Chavez is long dead, but his successor, Nicolas Maduro, still peddles the failed policies of the past. So, after over a decade of 21st-century socialism, what are the results? How about extreme poverty (via The Hill):
More than 75 percent of Venezuelans are now living in extreme poverty, according to a new study published on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The 2020-2021 National Survey of Living Conditions found that the percentage of Venezuelans living in extreme poverty rose by nearly 10 percentage points from last year, the wire service noted, from 67.7 percent last year to 76.6 percent this year.
Roughly 95 percent live in poverty when only looking at income levels, according to the study, run by researchers from Andres Bello Catholic University, which surveyed 14,000 households in 21 of the country’s 23 states between February and April.
Among the factors contributing to such dramatic poverty include fuel shortages, COVID-19 and not enough job opportunities.
Oh, don’t even go there regarding COVID. This nation was going down the toilet LONG before that. This has to do with a failed economic agenda and political philosophy that keeps people trapped in poverty under an authoritarian regime. That’s always the case. The upper crust of the governing class, like Maduro, is fine. Everyone else suffers as these socialist experiments always run out of other people’s money.