The Rise and Fall of Venezuela: Chapter 2

 

(Note: This is the second part of a two part series. The first chapter can be read here)

Previously, we looked at the rise and fall of Venezuela between 1960 and the 1990s. The story of how this country drowned in their own success. What followed was a series of famine, riots, corruption, and hyperinflation, with the government continuously making poor decisions driving the nation into turmoil. 

We continue our exploration in 1998, when a military lieutenant by the name of Hugo Chavez decided to take advantage of the current public anger towards the government. An already known figure, he used his popularity and left-wing ideas to gain the confidence of the Venezuelan people, and eventually rise to power in 1999. 

Chavez started his Presidential leadership by going on a massive spending spree on social programs in an attempt to better the quality of living for the Venezuelan citizens who had previously been victim of extreme poverty and hyperinflation. Unsurprisingly, he had to use the profits made from oil exports and trading to do this. This led to an even bigger dependence on the oil industry, which was further worsened given that other industries were not as stable.

In the short term, this actually worked out pretty well for the Venezuelan people, as poverty hade decreased by around 20% in only a few years time. This led to the people loving Chavez and revering him almost like a God.

However, the problems started to become clearer. Despite the huge spending spree using oil profits, Chavez had not invested much in the improvement or upgrading of the oil industry and facilities. In fact, he had little to no knowledge about the field, and refused to learn about it. Naturally, the only industry the country had been surviving on for the last forty years was starting to fade away all too quickly. 

Furthermore, Chavez, like all of his predecessors, brushed the idea of diversifying the economy under the carpet and thought the country would be more than fine relying on the oil industry. Whilst this may have worked ten years ago, it clearly was an illogical decision given that the oil industry was failing miserably. In other words, the country went from an oil-centric economy to practically no economy. 

History does not remember Chavez as an inexperienced politician, but as a dictator. And that is exactly what happened. Driven by the blind love and respect from the Venezuelan public, Chavez saw himself as the supreme power that ruled over the country, thus eligible to take the law of the land into his own hands. 

With his left-wing ideals taking over, the Chavez administration started seizing private companies and targeting those who were not in favour of Chavez. Rather than using experienced politicians who could make well-informed decisions to run the country, he decided it would be best to put his friends and family in high ranking positions instead without even taking into consideration their skillset or political abilities. 

In 2010, noticing the sheer destitution of the country, Chavez made one last financial blunder. Striving to prevent the capital flight (as explained in the previous chapter), he significantly decreased the value of the Bolivar, their national currency. This strived to stop the rich getting richer, but backfired when the price of imports increased greatly, leading to even more severe hyperinflation. The common man could no longer afford food or the basic necessities to live. The once wealthy South American country that treated their people like royalty had collapsed completely. This economic crash was made even worse by foreign sanctions imposed against the country. 

In 2013, Hugo Chavez died of cancer, avoiding any punishment and sanctions, whilst leaving behind a devastation of a nation. At first, this may have seemed like a slight relief for the Venezuelan population. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro proved to be a dictator right from the moment he stepped into office. By arresting opposition leaders (he claimed they were planning to further destroy the national economy), Maduro established himself as the one and only supreme leader of the country. With oil prices continuing to fall and poverty increasing, inflation reached an all time high of 800%. 

Police crackdowns and murders were rampant, with any form of opposition being smothered for good. In 2018, people thought that Maduro would lose the election happening in the same year by an overwhelming majority. Surprisingly, however, they were proven wrong when Maduro 'won' rather convincingly and was granted another term in power. Not very challenging when your opposition is dead or locked up in jail. This dictatorship still continues to this day. 

However, one of the most overlooked factors during the last fifty years is the severe impact on the innocent people of Venezuela. Their lives have been completely ruined by the selfish and foolish decisions made by dictators who seem to get away with everything. Most people go to bed hungry every single night - this vicious chaos has gripped the population of the country in every possible way. 

From a rich and prosperous country, to a lifelong bout of poverty and oppression. Destroyed by the one thing that made them successful, Venezuela is just one example of how a poorly structured economy and political instability can bring an entire country to its knees.