Venezuela since Hugo Chavez died
In 1997, President Bill Clinton visited the rich nation of Venezuela and it was one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America. In 1999, the country elected Hugo Chavez as president and he began to move the country toward socialism. The country was rich in agriculture and in addition to feeding its own country, it was exporting food to other Latin American countries. The exchange rate on the Venezuelan Bolivar was eight Bolivars to the Dollar. The farmland belonged to the wealthy class and President Chavez nationalized it and took it as government property. President Chavez set the prices for food at a low level to help the poor people to be able to eat. He also established a minimum wage for the farm workers to help them to make more money. President Chavez cut ties with the United States and began to be friends with China and Russia. At that time, oil was selling for $ 100 per barrel ( 43 gallons) and there was enough money from the oil to pay the cost of the government and take care of the poor. President Chavez was selling oil to China and Russia and borrowed billions of dollars from them to keep Venezuela prosperous.
Before President Chavez died with cancer in 2013, he picked Nicolas Maduro to succeed him as president. President Maduro was determined to continue the policies established by President Chavez. President Madura was a bus driver not many years before President Chavez chose him to succeed him as president.
Without the landowners to manage the farmland, the farming quickly stopped and since that time nothing has been grown on the rich farmland. The labor force is out of work despite having a livable minimum wage promised to them. All of the food is now imported from other Latin American countries into Venezuela. The government is still using the price fixing on the food and paying the difference between the cost and the selling price which is below the cost. Without wages from farming, the labor still has a hard time securing food.
President Maduro has been very hostile to foreign businesses, especially those with USA connections and Pepsi Cola, General Motors and United Airlines have all closed their factories and left the country. Companies from other countries have also closed and left. Unemployment this year is exceeding 25 percent.
The oil that was selling for $ 100 per barrel in 2014 fell to $ 26 per barrel in 2016. Since that time, it has moved back up to close to $ 50 per barrel but the supply from other sources is making the oil difficult to sell. When President Maduro took office, the nation had close to the equivalent of $ 30 billion circulating in the country. Today the currency value in circulation is under $ 10 billion. President Maduro’s solution to the problem has been to print more money. The exchange rate has moved from eight bolivars to one dollar to 8,000 bolivars to the dollar and it is falling so fast that other countries do not want to receive payment from Venezuela in their own currency. The minimum wage has been raised three times in 2017 but it still does not solve the problems. President Maduro blames the United States for the problems due to sanctions on the Venezuelan leaders. The USA has put sanctions on Venezuela because of the abandonment of democratic processes of the government and its effect on the people.
With the money that the government collects, President Maduro has chosen to pay the loan payments to Russia and China instead of buying food and medicine for the people. Starvation of the citizens is common and medical treatment is not available because of the lack of medicines and operation of equipment. Electricity is available for short periods. Newborn babies are dying at a high rate and women are dying during birth at a rate that is 25 percent higher than normal. President Maduro is reported to have an approval rating of about 17 percent. The Supreme Court has become an arm of the Executive Branch and it has dissolved the National Assembly. President Maduro is attempting to establish a new National Assembly that will write a new Constitution that will make him ruler for life.
The nation is suffering from an incompetent government and an opposition that is offering no solutions to the problems that are sinking the nation. The government is Socialist and they are providing for those that support and stand with the government but the opposition is pro- United States without being pro-Democracy. There does not seem to be a leader in the nation that is capable of assuming control and the president appears to be abandoning elections as a method of choosing a leader.
Those who wish to see Socialism in the United States should review the situation in Venezuela. Without Capitalism there is no motivation to provide product or services for the citizens. North Korea is a good example of Socialism. They are operating under Socialism and the people are starving and have no medical care. Just south of the 38th Parallel, South Korea is prosperous and the people are well fed and have good medical services under Capitalism and Democracy.