It´s been a while since I have wanted to start writing some stories, but life has pushed me away from it.
I´ll start by confessing that I write fast and I am most likely to make mistakes as I think fast. English is not my first language but I have always loved it, since I was very little. Perhaps thanks to my mum´s influence and pushing me to study since kinder school a second language, but still I make a lot of mistakes, you will see, and I apologize in advance.
I have been living for the last almost 6 years in Venezuela, in Caracas. Fantastic city, brilliant people (most of the ones I have met, at least) and incredible weather, landscapes, birds and in general, the energy that can be breath.
It all has to be said, it has not been easy for the country for the last two decades due to the hidden dictatorship within populist and socialist ideals,.... which were never true, it was all talk. I know because I lived all my life in europe, Spain and United Kingdom... besides, if well I might have never been top of my class, I was brought up to think critically, in order to discern whether what we are told makes sense or not. It is all relative, in the end, to each other´s perception of sense, together with our personal experiences, but generally, you know what I mean.
So since i came for the first time to this country I told my friends that what they were living wasn´t what it looked. I could compare it to what I had learnt that had happened in Spain during Franco, a well known dictatorship, and i told them what the similarities were back then:
- a military system on the streets, not only intimidating but that were more dangerous than the actual criminals, you´d be more afraid to be stopped by a police or a military than by an actual thug
- Curfew. I used to have to work really early (the day started really early in this country, before today´s pandemic) but i had to go home no later than 6 in the afternoon. If it was later than that, i could not take the underground nor the buses as I was more likely to be mugged, kidnapped, robbed or killed. That is curfew to me, if i had to be home by certain time.
- Ridiculous impositions. I remember back then there was a ridiculous law by the government that stated that all businesses had to have the front gate painted in grey, otherwise they would be shut and fined badly, which meant that money would be given only to the officials who would pretend nothing happened in exchange for a bribe.
- Complete control over goods of primary use.... you had to be noted down to receive certain benefits and be "on their side" if there was a parade or something like that.... (i never signed for having anything in return, I always chose my freedom of choice)
So that was when I first arrived, the panorama since increased in difficulty to the point of not being food on the shelves and people regularly trying to find food in the bins. I wouldn't know what´s the best word to describe the feeling of seeing people in such need. Impotence, frustration, anger, sadness, hopelessness... lack of breath in general.
Devaluation of the Bolivar, the official currency.... during the last decades there have been three conversions. In 2007 they took away three zeros to your balance. This is, your money was worth a thousand times less. So if you had 1000 in your bank suddenly you had 1. By 2010, so this is 11 years after Chavez became president, the value of money had reduced itself by 90%. The currency changed it´s name from Bolivar to Bolivar Fuerte (Strong bolivar, BsF.). Between 2008 and 2018 the acceleration of the bolivar was so incredible and the devaluation of the currency so great that in 2018, and with the cost of rice being 500.000 BsF being the highest currency bill the 100 BsF paper bill, imagine going shopping. Also considering most businesses didn´t have a POS (that´s another story), daily card limits were ridiculous, and the bank would only give approximately 50.000 maximum in cash (as there was no cash in the banks! really, i swear!)
So in 2008 the government decided to print new bills and remove five zeros to any amount. Meaning your money would now be worth 100.000 times less than before, because a kilogram of flower was 20 Bs in 2015 and it was approximately 350.000 in 2018... go figure! They called the new currency Bolivar Soberano (BsS).... we stil have it. Today a kilogram of rice ranges from 90.000 BsS... so that would be 90.000.000.000 BsF or 90.000.000.000.000 Bs from 2002 for instance. Just to give you an idea, a house back in 1999 could be purchased for 750.000 Bs. approximately. Go figure again!
Anyways, aside from maths, I was telling a friend of mine who came to visit November 2018 for 1 month that he would not understand the impact of devaluation. I said to him, you know what it is, can understand what it is, you may be able to figure out all the maths behind it, but you will nor really comprehend what it is to live it, until you are here.
So he came a 22nd of November with the parallel dollar (this is another story, remind me if you want me to explain all that crazy world of the parallel currency) at 311. So a Dollar cost 311 BsF to acquire behind the scenes (as to say). By the time he left on the 18th of December it was at 680 approximately. Cannot remember exact figures but +-a few. But what did that actually mean??... Well, I will tell you. It meant that at first you would be able to buy a loaf of bread at 17.000 BsF. The following day it was not that, but it was 20.000 (I must say, the salaries would remain intact!), so it was harder to get that money together, and your work was worth less. Ok, so in the afternoon you find the extra 3000 but when you get there there is no bread (there was a time that you were lucky to actually find bread)... you go very early in the morning and surprise! the bread is now 23.000....
So, well, the above is a bit of the economic background, not precise at all, but to give you a general gist of what the economic environment is around here.
A little note on the salaries. In 2015 the minimum salary was 1200 BsF weekly (aprox $2.5) . Nowadays it is 450.000 monthly (aprox. $5.5 monthly)... I know, because i had to pay salaries to people to help me with some works... and of course I not only paid them more, but also helped them in many other ways...
I am sure you will have a lot of questions like... so how do they do it to live? how do they purchase food? how do they do to pay for medicines? why on earth are you still living in that country?
And if you are really curious I will tell you all about it in future posts, please just remind me, my friends know that I have some terrible memory for some things!
I think this is a bit extensive so I will leave it for Part 2 to continue :) let me know your thoughs! I leave you with a view from where I live.
Some references. Apologies most dont have an english translation
http://www.monedasdevenezuela.com/articulos/cronologia-de-la-devaluacion-del-bolivar-venezolano/
https://elpais.com/diario/2010/01/12/economia/1263250808_850215.html
http://www.bancaynegocios.com/precio-del-arroz-subio-mas-del-doble-en-un-mes/
