There are families in Venezuela who do not eat meat because they cannot afford it. There are retirees who receive less than a dollar a month in pension. And above all, there are millions of Venezuelans who live waiting. Because since January 3, when the United States intervened in Venezuela, an idea was established above all others, that the economy was going to improve, that now money would finally start coming in, that now that money would finally reach the people.
But that is still not happening. Expectations have grown at a speed that reality is not managing to keep up with and people are frustrated because Venezuela is indeed generating new income, it is selling oil, it is selling gold, it is bringing in investments. But the big question remains the same, which is where is that money? Why doesn’t it reach the pockets of Venezuelans?
Part of those funds are held outside the country because sanctions continue to condition the economy. Venezuela has set up such a convoluted and opaque financial system to circumvent years of sanctions that dismantling it will take time. Furthermore, the Venezuelan economy today is sustained by a super fragile balance. It depends on the exchange rate, the price of oil, inflation, and the gap between the official dollar and the parallel one.
Today that gap is skyrocketing and that kills purchasing power, fuels inflation, and distorts prices. Inflation is no longer in the millions per 100 of yesteryear, but it remains in triple digits. And that feels just as harsh in daily life. Most people earn in bolivars that constantly lose value and there is also a very strong fiscal pressure, overlapping taxes, charges that many consider confiscatory.
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The result is clear: the money exists, but it does not reach the pocket. Investors and economists in Venezuela, however, are divided between the optimistic and the very optimistic. The economy, they say, will start to improve in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, tries to contain the frustration; the fear of a social outbreak can be another factor of instability at a time when the opposite is sought.
Rodríguez has announced a responsible salary increase starting May 1, but has not specified how much. The street, contained all these years, is now growing impatient. The average Venezuelan is in more of a hurry. Last Thursday a march was organized that intended to be massive to demand salary improvements. Unions, students, and above all, retirees attended, but they were not allowed to advance through the main streets they had planned. The police strangled the mobilization and it never reached the Miraflores Palace. We will try again, they said as they withdrew, because these days in Venezuela there is a very evident feeling.
People are hungry for a future and want their future to arrive quickly, perhaps faster than anyone is able to guarantee them.
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