For the past several years, the South American country of Venezuela has steeped into economic and political turmoil. According to Forbes, its economy has dropped from 10th to 33rd place in a decade. With its citizens facing power outages, looting and chaos, BYU–Hawaii students and others in the community with close ties to Venezuela explained the background of the conflict as well as their sympathies for the people.
Andria Tupola, an alumna from BYU in Provo and a former member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, said she served her mission in Venezuela from 2003 to 2004. She explained the background of the conflict. The main cause of the crisis at the moment is the competition between two men who claim to be the rightful president, according to Tupola. Earlier in 2019, Nicolás Maduro was sworn in as the president of Venezuela for a second term. Believing the election to be rigged, on Jan. 2, Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s legislature, declared himself to be the president with support from the United States and several other countries from Europe and South America.
Maduro, a socialist like his mentor and former president, Hugo Chavez, was elected in May 2018. According to VOA News, “Maduro won his first election by a thin margin and was re-elected in a controversial poll in May 2018, in which opposition candidates were either prevented from running or boycotted the race.”
Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly had been active in street protests against Maduro’s socialist government. The National Assembly argued the election in May 2018 was not fair, and the presidency was vacant, allowing them to appoint Guaidó to be president.
Alondra Grover, a sophomore from Idaho majoring in biochemistry, said she has close ties to Venezuela. Her mother is from Venezuela and her father served his mission there. Of the suffering faced by the people, she said, “People have been dying in hospitals when there is no power. All of this is true. My grandparents still live in Venezuela as well as two of my uncles. The power was off for about five or six days so they had no access to water, air conditioning, propane gas to cook or the internet.”
Suffering of the citizens
“The people are suffering,” Tupola said. “People are leaving the country but many will not have the means to relocate. Many have come to the United States and others have fled to bordering countries. I still get messages from people asking for help. One of my good friends actually just flew back to Venezuela to help his companion from the mission relocate his family to Colombia. The Church is trying to help but the situation is very severe.”
With this struggle between two leaders who claim to be the rightful president, Venezuela’s economy has suffered. According to VOA, inflation has increased to 1.7 million percent. In the years Maduro and Chavez held power, oil production, the country’s main source of income, decreased by about a third.
According to Britannica, the Venezuelan economy is mainly based on the export of petroleum. From the 1940s to the 1970s, it was the world’s largest exporter of petroleum. In the 1980s and 1990s, economic recession and inflation caused the economy to slump. This led to a socialist economy in 1998.
According to a Forbes article recommend-ed by Tupola, the International Monetary Fund expects inflation in Venezuela to reach 10 million percent this year.
Mercy Corp reports there are more than 3 million displaced people in Venezuela, with its humanitarian crisis being the worst in the western hemisphere. The United Nations estimates there will be 5.3 million refugees and migrants by the end of 2019. Because of the economic collapse and inflation, Venezuelans can barely afford food for their families.
According to Mercy Corps, babies in Syria now have a better chance of survival than those born in Venezuela because of the lack of health services. There is a shortage of 85 percent in medicines, and nearly 13,000 doctors have left Venezuela in the past four years.
Colombia hosts the most Venezuelan refugees at around 1 million, reports the World Bank. People who were once doctors, lawyers and university professors have had to resort to menial labor. Colombia recently suspended temporary visas for refugees. Venezuelans can no longer work there legally.
Grover shared her family’s experience in Venezuela and how the crisis is affecting them. “My dad served his mission in Venezuela, and my mom is from Venezuela, so I do have personal ties to Venezuela. I went to Venezuela once when I was about 4 years old,” Glover said. “I don’t remember much due to my young age, but I remember being with my family and the beautiful scenery. Venezuela is a country that has a lot of resources, especially petroleum.”
Grover’s mother is from the city of Maracaibo, which is where most of the petroleum of the nation is found. “Ever since President Hugo Chávez entered office he began making radical changes. President Gordon B. Hinckley received the revelation to remove all American missionaries from Venezuela and shortly afterward, Chavez removed all foreign oil companies from Venezuela. There haven’t been American missionaries in Venezuela for years.”
Her mother, Karina Grover, who is a native of Venezuela, wrote in a recent Facebook post, “Venezuela, my homeland, a beautiful country with beautiful people, good people, geographically so close to us, but so far from being modern these days. It only took twenty years of a socialist government to devastate and completely collapse and ruin it. I often wonder why and how exactly this idea of socialism was appealing to so many. Only because Venezuelans are hard workers who like to do their very best.
“The electricity network of an entire country not being maintained at all finally collapsed, leaving 32 million people without [power]. On Thursday, March 7 at about 12:30 p.m., it went out. As of now Monday the 11th, there is still no electricity in about 90% of the country and no hopes of [it] being restored. There are no backup generators in hospitals.”
Alondra Grover shared her opinion about Venezuela’s future. “The way I see it, the people of Venezuela need to take the reins of the government into their own hands. I hope and I pray it will be resolved peacefully, but it will probably turn ugly until the leadership is resolved and reestablished. If this crisis can be resolved, I think the country can be turned around within a decade or two.”
Writer: Elijah Hadley