Venezuelan families are struggling to meet basic needs. Due to Venezuela’s flawed fiscal policy during the 2000s – which relied heavily on oil revenue for growth – when oil prices collapsed it left it heavily indebted and without savings for future expansion.
According to an ENCOVI survey, 79% of homes don’t receive sufficient income to meet their food needs. Many are turning to informal work in order to survive and put themselves at risk by engaging in illegal work practices.
Inflation
Venezuelan inflation is spiraling out of control, leaving many Venezuelans finding that their salaries no longer cover the rising cost of food or essential items such as medicine. Many families are having to reduce meal frequency or skip altogether in order to afford basic needs such as healthcare or transportation.
A combination of factors have caused the economy to collapse, including oil price volatility, mismanagement of national budget and lack of economic diversification. Political unrest and widespread insecurity exacerbate this difficulty; making basic services difficult to deliver while accessing essential medicines unavailable.
Maduro has compounded the crisis by issuing a high-tech identity card called Carnet de la Patria (Homeland ID), which allows individuals to receive CLAP deliveries, formal sector employment opportunities, healthcare, university tuition subsidies and other benefits. He uses it as a reward for his most loyal supporters; World Vision works hard to help families obtain these essential documents so as to avoid discrimination or labour exploitation.
Food Insecurity
In most countries, the judiciary or legislature would have prevented economic collapse long ago by stopping policies like uncompensated nationalizations, price controls, central bank money printing, and extra budget spending — however in Venezuela these institutions were demoralized under Chavez and Maduro; today Venezuelans are suffering its largest ever economic decline outside of war, revolution, or state collapse.
During the oil boom, governments could afford to implement various social programs that assisted poor families known as misiones in purchasing food and medication. But with declining oil prices came declining revenues; eventually these programs collapsed under their own weight.
At present, 85% of Venezuelan families cannot meet their basic needs, leaving many hungry and vulnerable to malnutrition. Furthermore, families are being forced to migrate abroad, straining neighboring public services and healthcare systems while trying to absorb them; this massive migrant crisis also contributes to spreading infectious diseases across the region.
Unemployment
Sociologist Luis Pedro Espana distinguishes two forms of poverty in Venezuela, income poverty and chronic poverty. Income poverty refers to those not living in dire conditions but failing to earn enough for essential expenses like rent and food – Luis Pedro Espana mentions Evelyn Fernandez from Petare who fits this description, only making a monthly wage that barely covers her housing, public transport and food costs.
Since 2013, she has had to incur extra expenses just to maintain her lifestyle, including purchasing clothing and other goods from the black market. To do this, she works as a “matar tigres”, an informal form of employment in which people undertake odd jobs for compensation – this provides food and other essentials in Venezuela’s failing economy.
Access to Healthcare
Though Venezuela spends billions of dollars annually on healthcare, medical facilities remain underfunded and struggling. Many have shut down entirely or operate at limited capacities due to low wages and corruption issues; doctors and nurses have fled Venezuela due to these problems, leaving hospitals severely understaffed and decreasing vaccination levels for measles, diphtheria, and malaria exposing both children and adults alike to risk of disease.
With inflation being among the highest worldwide and minimum wages at less than $4 per month, people are living lives of extreme deprivation. International organizations have provided food and medicine but these interventions remain inadequate to addressing deprivation in this way.
Maduro and his allies’ growing autocracy has undermined faith in an electoral solution to Venezuela’s crisis, creating a divided opposition, comprising of an anti-Maduro camp willing to implement sanctions and threaten military intervention and pro-Maduro forces prepared to defend him from outside pressure.