HOW DIAPERS REMADE VENEZUELA
The protester’s sign says, “In Venezuela, there’s nothing.” Discontent over shortages has radically cut the government’s power,
CARACAS, VENEZUELA— Like many 16-year-olds, Yannilay Liendo spends the better part of her day glued to Facebook. Unlike her peers, however, she’s not using the social media site to connect with friends or catch up on gossip — she’s trying to find diapers and formula for her baby.
Venezuela’s grinding economic crisis has generated a plethora of problems including triple-digit inflation, shortages of basic goods and massive lines at markets. But it’s also inspiring bootstrap solutions, including a growing number of bartering websites for desperate shoppers.
More than 14,000 people are following the Twitter handle @spvzla where medicine is traded and bartered. The Facebook page “Trueque Anti-Bachaqueros Caracas” — another popular swapping site — has more than 10,300 members. And the image-sharing site Instagram has become the go-to place to find baby items. The page Mamaenapuros, or “Mom in a Jam,” for example, has more than 22,000 followers.
Such desperation was manifested in last weekend’s legislative elections. The Venezuelan government lost control of the National Assembly in a stunning rebuke for President Nicolas Maduro’s socialists, who had controlled the assembly for more than 15 years.
The anger stems from draconian price and currency controls. That, along with entrenched corruption, has created thriving black markets, where subsidized goods are hoarded and then sold for two and three times their official price.
As a result, the nation with the world’s largest oil reserves cannot keep aspirin and car batteries on the shelves.
Liendo started her Facebook swapping site called Super Anti-Bachaqueo Truekes or, roughly, Super Anti-Gouger Swap, three months ago. On the first day of its launch, 300 people joined. There are now more than 1,100 members.
The innovation was a matter of desperation, she said. She could never find food in her neighbourhood, but a nearby pharmacy often carried sought-after items like soap and shampoo.
“I used to have to wake up early in the morning to find what I needed,” she explained. “Now I just buy whatever I find.”
In a sense, the economy has turned everyone into a hoarder. On a recent weekday, when a shipment of tampons came into a local pharmacy in an upscale part of Caracas, businessmen on their lunch break were scooping them by the handful.
Maria, 24, a reseller who asked for anonymity because reselling is illegal, said stores in her neighbourhood of central Caracas are adapting to the new buying habits by offering baskets of random bundled goods at a fixed price designed to be swapped on the secondary market.
The government quit releasing its monthly “scarcity index” at the beginning of 2014, when the rate hit 22 per cent. But since then the problems have only gotten worse.
Jose Gomez, a 57-year-old public accountant, said it had been five days since he could find sugar or coffee.
“In my house we don’t even know what a bean looks like anymore,” he said. “It’s been eight months since I’ve been able to buy deodorant.”
Maduro has blamed opposition sabotage and international pressure for the crisis. In recent months, Venezuela has shut down the border with Colombia to fight smuggling, and rolled out even stricter price controls. Shoppers can only go to government-run stores on certain days, and expectant mothers and parents are often required to show sonograms and birth certificates to buy baby items.
Earlier this year, Maduro accused two unnamed opposition parties of running networks of bachaqueros, or resellers, “to wage war against the people.”
Maria said she became a bachaquera almost three years ago out of desperation. She needed to support her two children and couldn’t afford to wait in line.
“Not everyone can stand in a line for six hours to buy two or three things,” she said. “If you’re in a line like that you can’t even go to work.”
Maria said she has a network of people inside government-run supermarkets who provide her with the products. A package of diapers that go for 62 bolivares (about $13.50 Canadian) in government stores, will fetch 500 bolivares on the black market, she said. Right now the hot items are chicken and baby formula, she said.
About six months ago, Yolexis Bello, 31, spent five hours looking for diapers for her baby. Amid the frustration she used the messaging service WhatsApp to form a group called “Searching for Diapers.” It quickly hit its maximum capacity of 100 members.
Since she started the network, she said she rarely has to wait in line. She simply buys what’s available and swaps with someone else.
“We all help each other and we haven’t had to go to the bachaqueros,” she said.
Although she’s pleased with what she’s created, she said it’s not a solution.
“For me, the only solution is for this government to step aside,” she said. “Nothing they’re doing is working.”
“In my house we don’t even know what a bean looks like anymore. It’s been eight months since I’ve been able to buy deodorant.” JOSE GOMEZ A 57-YEAR-OLD PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT