How powerhouse Venezuela has turned into a pauper

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/how-powerhouse-venezuela-has-turned-into-a-pauper/article23666497/?click=sf_globefb

Long article on the chavista failure.

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For years, Venezuela was a nation on the rise – a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries more than 50 years ago. Decades later, Mr. Chavez was able to lavish oil riches on the poorest residents, providing everything from hospital clinics to hefty food subsidies and free gasoline.

Today, the country is in the midst of economic and political chaos. Oil prices have fallen by more than 50 per cent since last summer, and so much crude is sloshing around in global markets that even subsidized oil from Venezuela looks relatively expensive. President Maduro is scrambling to meet billions of dollars in debt payments due this year, while struggling to quell violence and manage an increasingly disillusioned population of about 30 million. Meanwhile, Cuba is re-establishing ties with the United States, once a shared foe.

At the same time, years of central planning and rigid price controls have gutted domestic production of many goods, leaving Venezuela completely dependent on imports it can no longer afford. Shortages of food, medical supplies and other staples are widespread and getting worse. Those once-beneficent medical clinics are closing, grocery-store lineups last hours, and violent crime – already among the worst in the world – is on the upswing. The abrupt skid in oil prices and resulting unrest have rapidly transformed the former Latin American powerhouse into a pauper, undermining its regional influence. It is also further weakening a key competitor to Canada’s oil sands.

As conditions deteriorate, Mr. Maduro is lashing out in paranoid fits. In recent weeks, the government has stepped up arbitrary detentions, jailing political opponents on conspiracy charges, and business executives for allegedly hoarding supplies. The aggressive moves have cast doubt on the timing of parliamentary elections set for later this year. They have also stoked fears that Venezuela is in the twilight of an unlikely experiment in democracy. Under the sway of Mr. Maduro, there are fresh anxieties that the country is careening toward some place much darker.

[DetlefK]

1. Concerning crime in Venezuela:

I recently read an article by a Venezuelan. He complained that crime has become such an everyday-occurance that it's the new normal.
http://www.cracked.com/article_21948_5-ways-life-different-in-worlds-deadliest-city.html

It's not always poor people. Crime has become a new, somewhat socially accpeted segment in the job-market and kids dream of becoming this or that kind of criminal when they grow up.

Kidnapping you is nothing personal. It is literally
Just.
A.
Job.

[Marksman_91]

2. Read that recently. It's incredible that even Cracked, one of the most popular humor websites...

is talking about how absurd the level of crime has increased in Venezuela, to the point that people have simply gotten used to it. Just another "achievement" of Chavismo, I guess.

[Bacchus4.0]

4. thats what they need distractions like the 10 million coerced petition drive n/t

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Horrible governance by the chavistas. They allow crime to occur because where crime is heaviest

is also where their support is heaviest.

[Marksman_91]

5. They actually benefit from higher crime rates

It scares people opposing the government out of the country, and keeps the population in fear.