In the early 1990s, Venezuela was named one of the world’s richest countries. Its northern location in South America, bordered by the crystal-clear waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean made it a destination most travelers only dreamed of visiting. Its oil reserves, deemed the largest in the world, gave it its title as one of the world’s most promising developing nations. But Venezuela has since seen the consequences of a slow shift towards autocracy and the people there have no choice but to either flee or live in a rapidly-decaying democracy, riddled with chaos and violence. Modern-day Venezuela is a nuanced reflection of the true dangers of populism.
In 1945, the first military coup executed by a political party to ever occur in the country’s history successfully overthrew President Isais Medina Angarita who had held the position since early 1941. The Democratic Action Party garnered unprecedented support from the people, allowing it to be successful in the overthrow of Angartia. Shortly after the party took control of the country, party-member Romulo Gallegos was elected president. Gallegos implemented many of the party’s labor-leftist policies-- one of the most notable being the designation of half the country’s oil profits to the government, as well as encouraging workers to unionize. The party also placed heavy emphasis on the citizens’ health, housing, and education programs, as well as economic development (both agricultural and industrial).
After Gallegos's presidency, the country saw another coup installing conservative autocrat Marcos Pérez Jiménez as the President of Venezuela, who imposed multiple restrictions on speech and political freedom. But his victory was short-lived; in 1958, the Democratic Action Party resumed power, with Romulo Betancourt becoming president.
Betancourt began his term with a significantly more moderate approach to governance, even creating a coalition with the Christian Democrats (a more moderate party), and set out to modernize the nation’s economy, develop independent industry, as well as improve health and education. This two-party approach to governance fundamentally changed the structure of Venezuela’s government and began a slow transition into modernity for the country as a whole.
A few years later in 1973, President Carlos Andres Perez took power and nationalized the entire petroleum industry-- a drastic economic change within the country. The early 1970s were riddled with an economic boom for the country, because of the Arab-Israeli War which skyrocketed oil prices and attracted thousands of immigrants as well as increased imports and most notably, formed an elite wealthy class. However, the rise in revenue did little to alleviate overall poverty rates within the country. Wealth inequality soared.
The late 1970s served as a harsh wake-up call for the country, as oil prices fell and investors flocked out of the country. GDP dropped substantially and unemployment skyrocketed. The country ran into multiple foreign debt crises-- one in 1978 and one in 1983-- thus causing multiple administrations to devalue the currency and reschedule foreign debt.
1988 marked another drastic decline in oil prices, thus causing government income to be cut in half. When President Carlos Andres Perez took office in 1988, he announced a plan to cut foreign debt and stimulate economic growth. But the short-lived enthusiasm amongst the people turned into impatience, later transforming into extreme discontent. The years of 1989-1992 were littered with riots and protests, as well as pushes for the privatization of industry. President Perez survived two coup attempts but was forced to leave office in 1993. After newly-elected Rafael Caldera’s short-lived presidential term beginning in 1994, Hugo Chavez began his quick rise to power-- one that would send the country’s economy spiraling beyond repair.
In 1998, with the country’s poverty rate exceeding 30%, the citizens of Venezuela rejected the traditional parties that had sent them into an economic downturn and decided to elect former Lieutenant Hugo Chavez as the next president of the country. The world’s perception of Venezuela as a socialist nation is largely brought upon by Chavez, whose extremely liberal policies drastically benefitted the working class. Multiple attempts were made to oust Chavez from office by moderates and conservatives who didn’t agree with the drastic economic reform he was imposing, but he survived all of them and continued to fund drastic public expenditures with the oil revenue from the country because his immensely expensive projects were the only thing keeping the working class on his side.
In 2007, Chavez’s nationalist agenda became extremely prevalent in his policy. He completely took over the oil sector and announced government control over the biggest oil deposit in the world that was previously owned by foreign companies. He continued overspending on social welfare programs and even created a time zone unique to Venezuela, demonstrating the warped perception of the country he wanted his citizens to have. He issued multiple referendums calling for the elimination of term limits, all of which failed, and broke off relations with one of their closest allies, Colombia. When Chavez died in 2013, his successor was left with a crumbling nation.
Nicolas Maduro won the election by a small margin and was left with a country whose inflation rate had already reached 50% in the first few months of his presidency because to combat falling oil prices, Chavez had tried to print more money to stabilize the economy. The attempt had an inverse effect, causing the value of Venezuela currency to plummet. Contempt was growing amongst the Venezuelan people and Maduro responded with violent crackdowns by the military and police. As oil prices fell further in 2015, inflation climbed and GDP fell drastically. Multiple attempts to get Maduro out of power were hampered by the corrupt election commission, despite getting around 2 million votes to have a recall election for Maduro. Meanwhile, demonstrations escalated and Maduro resorted to putting leaders of opposition parties and demonstrators in prison.
As the crisis escalated further in 2017 and goods were becoming increasingly harder to access for Venezuelans who had fallen subject to extreme inflation, Maduro raised optimism with talks of peace discussions with opposition groups, but ultimately continued to put rebels in prison and authorized even more violent crackdown on citizens that were protesting his authoritarian tactics. Though the country's Central Bank stopped releasing statistics, it is estimated that in 2016, Venezuela’s GDP fell by 28% and its inflation rate reached 800%. Food shortages became so severe that the average Venezuelan was cited to have lost 19 pounds in a single year.
As Venezuela reached the point of hyperinflation in 2018, inflation that is uncontrollable and excessive, usually growing by over 50% per month, it was estimated that over three million citizens fled the country and more have left since then. After another fixed election that involved Maduro bribing citizens to vote for him with food, the inflation rate increased to over 10,000,000% in 2019. In that same year, the cumulative decline of the economy since 2013 reached 65% and is projected to keep declining by 35% each year. To make matters worse, oil production declined from over a million barrels per day to 830,000 barrels a day in 2019 alone, causing the industry that makes up 95% of the country’s exports to decline rapidly.
Currently, though the country has decreased its inflation rate to 9,586%, Venezuela is still fighting a drastic uphill battle against utter collapse. The country owes a record 100 billion dollars to foreign creditors and imports of food and medicine are still declining. 80% of households in the country are currently food insecure, more than 12,000 people have been arrested at protests to be subject to physical and sexual abuse. Maternal mortality rates have risen by 65%, infant mortality by 30%, and malaria by 76%. There have also been alleged mass-killings within the country for political expression that have resulted in the deaths of thousands. These atrocious circumstances will only be exacerbated by Donald Trump’s recent imposition of heavy sanctions on the Venezuelan government. Though Maduro stays largely in control of the Venezuelan government, people continue to starve and even though sanctions are targeted at individuals who are part of the oppressive Maduro regime and not at basic humanitarian supplies, after sanctions are imposed, imports to a country usually decrease dramatically even if they are allowed.
Venezuela serves as a testament to the horrors of economic homogeneity-- particularly on a resource that fluctuates in price as much as oil does-- extreme government mismanagement, and an overall lack of adherence to democratic principles.
How you can help:
An internal foundation that is dedicated to increasing access to food and helping victims of violence: https://www.gofundme.com/f/SolidaridadVzla
Another internal foundation that focuses on children: https://www.fundana.org
A Global Gist favorite: https://www.msf.org/venezuela (doctors without borders)