'Truly just devastating stories': The bleak outlook from inside Venezuela's deepening crises by Christopher Woody on May 28, 2018, 1:01 PM Advertisement
 Venezuela has been riven by protracted political and economic crises that have prompted mass protests and sparked a wave of migration. Venezuelans have fled throughout the region, with some going as far afield as Spain. The many who remain live in a deeply divided country, where President Nicolas Maduro maintains power — solidified in a May 20 presidential election granting him another term amid widespread doubts about its legitimacy — in spite of rampant shortages, high rates of crime and violence, and a deteriorating economy. Geoff Ramsey, the associate for Venezuela at the Washington Office on Latin America, a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy group, spent April in Venezuela, meeting with members of the public, the government, the opposition, civil-society groups, and others. Ramsey spoke with Business Insider in late May, describing the conditions Venezuelans face at home as well as the political outlook fora situation that has frustrated the region and the world. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity. SEE ALSO: Trump has been accused of going easy on authoritarian leaders — here's why the White House says Venezuela is different 'It's one thing to hear about them and another to see them firsthand.'  Christopher Woody: Being on the ground [in Venezuela] ... was there anything that was unexpected, that surprised you, that wasn't in line with what you'd heard before you got to the country? Geoff Ramsey: It was not my first time in Venezuela, or actually in any of the three countries, and I've certainly been following the reports of the humanitarian situation on the ground and talking to people about it, but it's one thing to hear about them and another to see them firsthand. It was really just heartbreaking to meet with people over and over that are reeling from this economic crisis. I met people that lost their savings due to hyperinflation. Elderly people that ... waited in line for their regular pension, and it amounts to essentially pocket change. It's truly devastating. And I think the best sense of the scope of the crisis that I've gotten so far was in speaking to people who have been fleeing, because I got a much better sense of how bad it is outside of Caracas, in the interior of the country. In Brazil in particular, I was struck by the fact that I saw one guy standing on the side of the road selling oranges to passing motorists, and he was in a bright red PDVSA jumpsuit, a uniform. I went up to him and I spoke with him and he told that his state salary, working as a technician for PDVSA, just simply didn't allow him to make ends meet or support his family, so he now makes more money essentially living in the streets in Boa Vista [in Brazil] and selling odd fruits, cigarettes, candy in the streets, and he's able to support his family with a greater income doing that than he did working in the oil sector. And I heard stories like that over and over. I met with one woman in Cucuta [in Colombia], I believe, who has a thyroid condition, and her husband also is a public employee, and she was saying that his monthly salary barely covers a week — essentially five or six pills — of the medication that she needs to take for her thyroid condition. So it's truly just devastating stories.
'Cash is worthless, but at the same time, nobody has any cash.'  Woody: You mentioned hyperinflation, and that has obviously destroyed people's ability to save and to buy things. At the same time, shortages are rampant, and that makes it impossible to get essential items like food and medicine. From what you saw, what are the processes people have to go through to buy basic things they need to meet basic needs or to get cash to make those purchases? Ramsey: The interesting sort of irony of the situation in Venezuela is that there is hyperinflation, so cash is worthless, but at the same time, nobody has any cash. So ... most economic transactions are done with credit and debit cards, and in a country where the electronic infrastructure is crumbling, you can imagine that that presents serious logistical problems. People routinely have to deal with their bank's electronic systems not working or the cash points, their readers of cards, not working correctly, so even something as simple as buying a cup of coffee can take an hour trying to go back and forth and slide your card multiple times, call up your bank, that sort of thing.
"'Eh, what's the difference.'"  Woody: I know in the run-up to the May 20 elections, there were still government supporters [backing Maduro], and Maduro maintains around 20% support, which is not nothing. What did you hear from them? How did they view the situation? How do they reconcile what's going on in the country with their support for the government? Ramsey: I met with several government supporters, and I heard some sort of people straying from the official discourse, but not much. In general, I think there is acceptance of the idea that Venezuela is under what they call a "bloqueo financiero" or a financial blockade, and that the country's economic problems are the result of the collusion of the opposition with the international community in its sort of imperialist desire to get rid of Maduro. Obviously we know that's not the case, but I think the government has, through state media, been particularly effective in pumping that message to its base. However, I did talk to people that supported the government, but were, like most Venezuelans, not at all enthused about voting for Maduro, and so you had this interesting dynamic where I spoke to people that would go on about Chavez's legacy and how Venezuela is suffering from some international conspiracy and then ... I would ask them, 'So are you going to vote in these elections on May 20?' And what I heard in many cases was, 'Eh, what's the difference. what can I really expect to come out of that?'
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