A Horrifying Results of the Venezuelan Economy Crash

Yesenia is a 13-year-old girl living in the slums of Caracas, the capital and among the poorest cities in Venezuela. Unable to speak, she furrows her brow and raises her hand to her mouth, signaling hunger as she waits for Maria, her older sister, to prepare her daily meal of steamed yucca root. Suffering from severe malnutrition, a learning disability, and Dengue fever, Yesenia weighs in at only 48 pounds. “We only eat at night, so we don’t go to bed hungry” says Maria, her cheekbones sharply carved on her thin face. In Caracas, their only sustenance comes from biweekly food deliveries of the Local Food Production and Provision Committees, or CLAPS.

Their neighborhood in Caracas has always been destitute, but amidst the economic crisis that shocked the country around 6 years ago, restricted access to potable water, electricity, and a shortage of basic medications has rendered them desperate for survival. Things are even more difficult for those suffering from acute illness, like Yesenia, or chronic illness, like Maria, who suffers from type 1 diabetes. In a nearby cinder-block home lives a neighbor, Mrs. Maldonado, constantly fearing the fate of her infant daughter who was born with microcephaly, a condition in which the brain does not develop properly in utero. Another man roams the streets nearby, 28-year-old Danny Salazar, who has not been medicated for his schizophrenia in over 6 months. His skin appears stretched over his bones, and any remnants of muscle have been wasted away.

This is the situation in Venezuela. These people are not unique. Suffering is widespread and does not discriminate. Even previously “well-off” Venezuelans are finding themselves in turmoil as inflation reached 10 million percent in 2019, according to the International Monetary Fund. Maternal and infant mortality has skyrocketed, previously eradicated diseases have resurfaced, and food shortages are so persistent that the average resident has lost 24 pounds in 2017. According to UNICEF, over 7 million Venezuelans, including 3.2 million children, need immediate assistance (“‘We Are Watching Our People Die’: The Human Toll”). In the wake of a countrywide shortage vital medications, such as chemotherapeutics and antiretrovirals that treat HIV-AIDS, a network of Venezuelans living with HIV sought aid from Geneva, Switzerland back in 2016. However, their request was denied by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria on the premise that Venezuela is considered a “high-income nation” according to the World Bank (“Venezuela’s HIV Drug Crisis”).

This paper seeks to answer the following question: why did the economic crash in Venezuela result in such an incredible decline in health infrastructure and increase in poor health outcomes in such a short period of time? I argue that the dramatic decline in quality of life, the resurgence of previously eradicated tropical diseases, and increase in morbidity and mortality have no single cause. It would be a mistake and oversimplification to attempt to one-dimensionally characterize the crisis as a result of, for example, leadership failings. However, the unenviable “perfect storm” Chavez left in his wake created an economic crunch that power-hungry Maduro could not recover. Since his acquisition of power after Chavez’s death in 2013, the suffering in Venezuela has magnified by Maduro’s inability to recognize the situation as a legitimate humanitarian crisis. Unsurprisingly, this greatly hinders humanitarian aid assistance, pushing the country further into poverty.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, as of 2018, nearly 90 percent of Venezuelans live in poverty, a dramatic increase from 2014 when 48 percent lived in poverty. To make matters worse, recent sanctions imposed by the Trump Administration prevent Venezuela from drowning deeper in foreign debt but exacerbate the health crisis for the most vulnerable. Political violence between Maduro’s supporters and the opposition has practically placed the vast majority of health clinics under siege, and the import of medications is nearly impossible given the exchange rate.

Venezuela was once the “crown jewel” of Latin America. It led public health efforts such as malaria control and medical training for many years. The paragraphs that follow seek to explain three factors that have fueled Venezuela’s growing health crisis, Maduro’s uncanny resilience to cling to his power, the lack of adequate international aid, and the general public’s exposure to rampant crime.

Chavez’s democratic rise to power in 1998 launched the Bolivarian Revolution, plowing the way towards a “21st century socialism”. His formulation of a progressive constitution though a participatory Constituent Assembly sought to seek out public control over the state oil company, PDVSA, previously operating as a private, autonomous entity. Despite a failed coup attempt of the Venezuelan Right and an oil lockout in 2002, the 4 years following were the Bolivarian Revolution’s most prolific and dynamic. Chavez’s celebrated social programs, promising health and education for all, were financed solely by oil revenue. The fortification of an intense petro-economy under Chavez and a willfully impenetrable system of national accounting created a perfect storm for corruption and structural distortions.

The fall in the price of oil fell from $100 in 2013 to $24 in 2016 had dramatic social, political, and economic consequences. Revenues plummeted, and inflation began to climb exponentially. Chavez’s death in 2013 marked Nicolas Maduro’s assumption to power as former vice president of Venezuela. Since then, a food shortage has been amplified by CLAPS, a relief organization designed to meet the counter the growing number of malnourished Venezuelans. Formed in 2016, CLAPS uses existing legislation-circumvention tactics to divert subsidized products to the black market, reaping huge profits for the Maduro-appointed military commanders managing the operation. Massive debt accumulated during years of unchecked spending and inadequate saving during the decade-long oil boom from 2004-2014, contributing to Venezuela’s desperation for foreign aid.

Lack of finding resulted in a crumbling of infrastructure; roads desperate for repair are littered due to irregular trash collection, public transit is left in shambles, running water becomes a luxury, and electricity use is restricted. Economic xodus to neighboring countries was no longer a reality, rather, people are selling their homes in order to purchase bus tickets to secure survival. Abuses of power were historical to chavismo – opponents target via violent repression, legal artifice, and unfair electoral conditions. Maduro, inspired by chavismo’s historical abuses of power, drew upon these unfair, violent repressions to remain in power despite the suffering of millions and the crumbling of the state.

However, 2017 marked the decided departure from chavismo in two significant ways that ultimately proved his victories pyrrhic. First, the collapse of the mystique of electoral legitimacy made it clear that Maduro would steal votes before he would lose. Secondly, the weed-out of anti-Maduro candidates in municipal elections confirmed that Maduro was trudging onward to become the only game in town. Despite victories of the opposition, Maduro required all incoming governors to essentially bow down to him. Only one of five failed to do so, effectively neutralizing any opposition to Maduro’s regime.

A few years ago, it was possible to see a light at the end of the tunnel. It was possible to envision the government losing electorally to survive politically, but 2017 proved that Maduro and his puppets threw chavismo out the window, sacrificing the movement that provided the country with a social hope, to remain in power. It is difficult to ignore the integral role Maduro played in the mismanagement of the economy that dragged Venezuela into an enormous humanitarian crisis. In addition, his attempts to dismantle the opposition by use of lethal force against innocent protestors or exiling critics has reduced him to a corrupt dictator.