We all know about Venezuela, that country in South America that has been crumbling since Chavez took the power. We all have heard those spooky stories that have been told to us about “how socialism destroyed Venezuela”, but was it actually socialism? Is that what we should be afraid of? 

Lots of people believe that  the Communism is over since the Soviet Union is, but it is not. There are even recognized communist governments in the world, just like Cuba, China, Vietnam and Laos. Contrasting to that, there are democratic countries that look more like oppression communist totalitarian regimes. These countries do not call themselves “Communist” because scientifically they are not. But there is another question we should ask ourselves, is Venezuela democratic, are communist countries democratic? Is not Venezuela communist?

Venezuela is a country where a large number of elections are hold. In the time period 2010 – 2018, a total of 7 major elections (including presidential, regional, and parliamentary elections) were hold in that country, but that does not make Venezuela democratic, but truly it is not communist as well. Venezuela has a multipartidist system of government, but the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) have been stealing all the power since 20 years ago. 

This map shows the result of the Municipal Elections in 2013 in Venezuela. The red color stands for the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, lead by Maduro). Blue stands for MUD (Mesa de la Unidad Democratica, or Bureau of the Democratic Coalition, which is the main party in oppositon to Maduro’s regime).

The map above shows the Maduro’s support rate in each state for the Presidential Elections held in 2018. All the states showed up a support rate over 50% in favor of Maduro. In a country where people are starving, where more than 4 million people have fled, where around the 80% of the people lives in extreme poberty. This election was qualified as irregular and fraudulent because of the involvement of the Contituent Assembly (An Assembly made up of onl Chavista deputies), which banned the participation of the main Opposition Parties of the country.  Also, the government was accused of  buying voters (with food, money, property). This triggered to massive demonstrations agains the government. 

Although countries like the United States and Australia, and important international unions as the Group of Lima and the European Union stated that the elections were fraudulent, there were a list of countries conformed mainly by China, Russia, Iran, and Egypt, that supported the elections. 

You can look up for any of the elections held in Venezuela since 2000 and the results are going to be smashing Chavista majorities. Even though that the country has experienced huge opposition demonstrations since 2013.

What led Venezuela to its political, economical, and social crisis?

Corruption: Venezuela’s government is all corrupted. From its law enforcement corps to the parliament and the judiciary system. Venezuela’s politicians have been bribed by the Chavista regime, and they have been involved into illicit acts such as drug dealing, gasoline trafficking, and many other illegal actions. A good example of it is the “Cartel of the Suns” which has been described as one of the largest cartels in the world. This drug-trafficking group is lead by Diosdado Cabello (former president of the Parliament), and Tareck El Aissami, current Minister of Industries and National Production, who is a fugitive of American Justice. In February 2017, the U.S Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) designated Tareck Zaidan El Aissami as a specially designated narcotics trafficker (SDNT) pursuant to the Kingpin Act for playing a significant role in international narcotics trafficking. El Aissami was appointed Executive Vice President of Venezuela in January 2017. He previously served as Governor of Venezuela’s Aragua state from 2012 to 2017, as well as Venezuela’s Minister of Interior and Justice starting in 2008. He facilitated shipments of narcotics from Venezuela, to include control over planes that left from a Venezuelan air base and drug routes through the ports in Venezuela. In his previous positions, he oversaw or partially owned narcotics shipments of more than 1,000 kilograms from Venezuela on multiple occasions, including those with the final destinations of Mexico and the United States.

That is why Venezuela’s government system is doubled. They have 2 Presidents, 2 Parliaments and 2 Supreme Courts. But what led Venezuela to have 2 Presidents?

Easy. A constitutional National Assembly (The Parliament) was elected in 2015. It was the first time in Chavista history that the elections were transparent. International observers from the European Union precensed the vote counting process and they confirmed it. 

The graph above shows the results of the Parliamentary Elections held in Venezuela in 2015. The blue stands for the Democratic Unity Bureau (democratic) and the red stands for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (neo-communist). As you can see, the Bureau won the majority, giving an air of hope to the Venezuelan people, but afterwards, the Parliament started to rule against Maduro’s unhuman and illegal policies. Then Maduro asked the all-Chavista Venezuelan Supreme Court to stop the Parliament.

They ruled that the Parliament was in comptent and called for new elections to create a simultaneous Parliament known as a “Constituent Assembly” which would modify the constitution of Venezuela, of course in favor of Maduro. The elections were called and the Bureau refused to participate in those elections because they were unconstitutional. 

Effectively, the elections were held anyways without the Bureau’s participation. The results were the following.

In response to that, an alternate Supreme Court was created in 2017. This was called the “Supreme Tribunal of Justice in Exile” and it is recognized as the highest Court of Law in Venezuela by the American States Organization. The 33 members of this Court are based in Panama, Chile, Colombia and the United States. 

In 2018, Presidential Elections were held and Maduro won the office, but this elections were considered illegitimate by the constitutional Parliament. That is why, according to the Constitution of Venezuela, the president of the National Assembly (Juan Guaido) is in his duty to become the interin President until new elections are called. 

Expropriation of Private Property, Nationalization of the Resources and Subsidizing: Venezuela used to be a country where the right to own private property was protected. That changed when in 2008 Chavez started expropriating Private Property from international industries based in Venezuela. He wanted to “invest” in those businesses and create jobs for the Venezuelan people, or at least, that was his premise. But he never invested in those businesses, because Venezuela was in a state of bankrupcy. He didn’t have money invest in anything because almost everything managed by the government in Venezuela is free or low-cost. Even gasoline. Did you know that you can fill the tank of your car around 20 times just with $1? And that was when you could buy gasoline legally, but Venezuela is currently in a big lack of gasoline, because of the same thing, the gasoline is so cheap that the government cannot maintain refineries, nor pay Petroleum Workers. And here is another deal, Venezuelan people are not tax-payers. Venezuelans are not expected to declare their taxes, and anyone could get away without paying anything. The only tax that you can’t get away with is IVA (acronym for Impuesto sobre el Valor Agregado, or Value Added Tax). However, the informal market is really large in Venezuela, and there are many unregistered stores and businesses that only ask you to pay for the price of the product you are taking. Subsequently, there is no prices control or fiscal control. Everything is attached to speculation. Electricity is free in Venezuela, but the 2019 was a year full of blackouts for the Venezuelans. 

This picture is from March, 2019. The map of Venezuela is outlined in red. As you can see, the map is completely black. That is because Venezuelans do not pay for electricity, and also because around the 80% of the country depends to one only Hydroelectric Generator. It is called 

“The Guri Dam”, and when it fails, all the states have a big blackout. Particullary this one was the beginning of a blackout series. The first blackout happened in March 7th 2019,  and it lasted 5 days (even more for some states). People could not have access to basic needs such as food, water, and medicines because everything was falling apart. Dozens of people died. People that were in hospitals with breathing machines connected to them, also diabetic people who needed to keep insuline cold. The beef, chicken, and foods that needed to be refrigerated got rotten. And blackouts continued throughout all that year. 

Besides, due to the huge amount of Venezuelans fleeing, a lot of owned houses were left alone. The Chavista regime created a plan to expropriate those houses and to give them to the homeless. As you can see, private property is not respected in Venezuela. 

Low and Equal Wages for Everyone: Although people is not supposed to earn an “Equal Wage” the difference gap is almost inexistent. The minimum monthly wage in Venezuela is 450,000 Sovereign Bolivars (Venezuelan Currency, BsS) that can be translated to $6 dollars a month. Now, let’s talk about proffesional’s wages. Actually, it varies depending on where are you working.

A doctor that works for a Public Hospital earns the total amount of $10 a month, and I am talking about any specialized doctors. A regular emergency doctor earns less than that. So, the wages are not equal, but they are low