For more than three decades, something more than data has been recorded in Venezuelan neighborhoods: emotions, bonds, and ways of surviving amidst precariousness. In this everyday territory, the Center for Popular Research became a privileged observatory to understand how people think and feel in the most popular areas.
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One of the researchers who has accompanied this process is Mirla Pérez. Her work has focused on tracking the emotional evolution of those living in the country’s most impoverished areas —a little more than half of the population— through sustained qualitative studies over time: focus groups, in-depth interviews, and periodic monitoring that allow for capturing subtle but decisive changes.
Over time, the center’s work transcended the academic sphere: its readings on social behavior served as a reference for elites, analysts, and media interested in understanding the orientation of the majorities at different times in the country.
Question. How does the most impoverished Venezuelan population interpret the current political moment?
Answer. The economic situation of the lower strata of the Venezuelan population is now very difficult. If the middle classes are struggling not to stop eating meat, poor people have nothing to eat. This is a recent phenomenon; in recent decades, even with Hugo Chávez, for better or worse, people ate in the neighborhoods. People don’t starve because solidarity ties remain very strong in these environments, family, neighborhood, and religious. Contrary to what is believed, people don’t like to depend on official aid. People use it because they can’t find work.
Q. What is the current rootedness of the communal state in these spaces, which were a source of electoral power for Chavismo?
A. The communal state began to enter the reality of Venezuelan neighborhoods in 2006. It was perfected over the years, but that design never quite fit the reality of the neighborhoods, whose life is communal, not communitarian. The communal model ended up being imposed, and the communal life of the neighborhoods, well, initially serving them, instrumentalizing some of those ideological offerings. But people always cared that these communal designs did not interfere with their way of life. That, and the economic crisis, caused many people to begin to distance themselves from these experiments. Participation began to slowly decrease, until 2024 arrived, the year of the presidential elections, in which it became clear to everyone how the so-called Communal Power fostered denunciation, repression, and political control.
Q. From what moment do you perceive that the popular fervor for Chavismo began to fade?
A. In 2018-2019, those spaces of Communal Power were already empty shells, spaces without roots. Small isolated groups; in some cases armed.
Q. How would you summarize the thoughts and aspirations of the majority of Venezuelans living in poverty?
A. The migratory exodus greatly influenced the breaking of the bond that existed with the regime. The phrase “my children left because of Chavismo” is a very present sentiment. That is a first gap of pain, and it will condition the rest of the perceptions. 2014, 2017, 2019 were years with much violence in which the memory of pain is sown. Then there is this leadership of María Corina Machado starting in 2023, who begins to travel the country and awakens a very great expectation. In that year, and in 2024, there is, once again, a massive participation of the population in politics.
Q. Does the fact that Machado is a person from the upper classes not create a wall between her and the poor sectors?
A. No, not anymore.
Q. Is there any nostalgia among the population for the surplus Venezuela of the 20th century?
A. In the latest studies we have done, people talk about a rebirth. Of a new Venezuela, of starting anew. It is a feeling anchored to the result of the 2024 presidential elections, national reconstruction. The past is a reference point, but people are interested in projecting the future.
Q. Is there a clear perception of the xenophobia that Venezuelans suffer in South America?
A. Yes, of course. In the peripheral neighborhoods of Caracas, there are still many Colombian immigrants. Many have returned, but others remain in the country; there are many intermingled families. The same happens with Peruvians and Ecuadorians, though to a lesser extent. All those comments circulate.
Q. Is there hope among the population for a swift political change?
A. It is a longing. The transition to democracy in the country actually began in 2024, regardless of what is said in the zones of power and what politicians say. It began as a social, everyday, popular phenomenon. That electoral decision is what is marking today’s events.
Q. In many Chavista leaders, one can sense a hope of reconnecting with the population in terms of popular appeal, of returning to the good old days. Some people even fear that the increase in oil revenue will help Delcy Rodríguez. Do you see that as possible?
A. It’s difficult. The bond is broken. National socio-anthropology is relational, matricentric. Personal and emotional bonds are very important. When bonds break in communities, they don’t reconnect. The officialist structure exists, but it is outside popular sentiment. The communal model developed by the regime does not privilege leadership; it speaks of chiefs. Chief of community, of street, of commune. It is a dimension that demands obedience.
Q. What does the population perceive about the leadership of the rest of the opposition?
A. It’s very bad too. There is a very clear, very distinct commitment to María Corina. Sometimes Primero Justicia appears, but mostly through Juan Pablo Guanipa.
Q. How do Venezuelans get informed, considering the country’s levels of censorship?
A. Simple people are usually interested in finding out the news. The first medium they turn to is WhatsApp. For personal relationships, to talk to family members abroad, to know what’s happening. TikTok and Facebook are also widely used. Radio is much less used now, due to censorship.
Q. Is the return of democracy, even beyond political change itself, seen as a horizon to be conquered among the people?
A. Yes, of course, and also to get jobs, to have salaries. People don’t want things for free and poorly functioning. They prefer to pay for services and have them. At this moment, in many impoverished areas of Venezuela, people are only going to school twice a week due to the destruction of public schools and the migration of teachers. Many people from poor neighborhoods hire private tutors, look for guided tasks to improve their children’s education on their own.
Q. Do you have any evidence of how the population evaluated the events of January 3, in which Maduro’s arrest occurred?
A. In our studies, what we gather is the relief at the opportunity for political opening, the tranquility of the current moment.
Q. Is there class resentment, animosity in popular areas towards the wealthy classes in the country?
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A. No, that’s in the past now, it never really took hold completely.
