Imagine waking up in the morning and finding out you have run out of bread. Now, you have to sit on the overflowing bus towards the 'nearest' grocery store. Next to you would be an old man who travels everyday to look for a job to feed his family. In front of you there is a woman who needs to travel up to 2 hours each side to get to her job as a nurse at the 'nearest' hospital. She barely makes enough to feed herself, her parents and her 2 kids. The hospital she works at is always crowded with most people at extreme stages. However, she knows that most of them will not get sufficient treatment to be able to make it. But, she still tries her best. It is hard to stand among the crowd especially since, you have a heavy bag full of money to be able to pay for the one loaf of bread. This is what people in Venezuela face on a daily basis. Traffic, poverty, unemployment, inflation and a terrible healthcare system plague the socialist country. It may seem impossible for such an oil rich country to have such terrible conditions. Sadly, it is the truth but Venezuela recently saw a ray of sunshine. What's left to see is if the dark clouds would cover it up again or if it's here to light up millions of Venezuela's life.
Nicolas Maduro-
Nicolas Maduro is the 46th president of Venezuela and is the man behind this chaos. He has been the president since 2013 when, arguably, most of the problems started to show. He entered the scene as a Minister of foreign affairs of Venezuela from 2006 to 2013. He also served as the vice president of the popular president, Hugo Chavez. Hugo Chavez implemented a lot of social programs with the aim to end poverty and inequality. This was fueled by the oil exports, which were going great. His successor took what seemed to be a healthy regime in a downward spiral. His only fault was printing. Printing money.
The Hyperinflation spiral-
When Hugo Chavez was in charge, Venezuela's economy was mainly dependent on its oil exports. This was passed on to his successor. In 2014, oil exports made 90 percent of the exports. That's when the price of oil began to drop on the global market. The foreign demand for the bolivar (Venezuela's currency) crashed and so did it' price. As the currency's value fell the price of the imports got high, the economy ended up crashing. Nicolas Maduro printed more money to help with this. It was a perfectly viable solution at the time and quite common to help the economy gets through a slump. However, the economy just got worse. The price of oil kept dropping and the value of the Bolivar kept dropping. This, with other reasons reduced Venezuela's oil exports and buyers looked for other sources. Instead of taking a more long term action Nicolas Maduro just printed more money. This added to the supply of Bolivar's and drove the price even lower. This is how the spiral started. In 2016, Nicolas Maduro declared a state of emergency when inflation was at 800 percent! In 2018 inflation was at 80,000 percent. Recent estimated give a figure of around 380,000 percent. This means that prices double every month. It has gotten to the point now that people think the currency is better used as a toilet paper than as a means of exchange.
Why not other oil countries?
Venezuela was not the only country that depended on oil. So, why is it that the country went into such a dangerous spiral while other countries were able to get through the storm? This was mainly because Hugo Chavez was known for his legacy of social programs. They ran up so many bills, that they could not pay. They used up all the money and even borrowed to spend more. This helped maintain Hugo Chavez's presidency but it also created the basis for the future crisis. This is what started the "ticking time bomb" of Venezuela's economy. It was bound to explode.
The situation now-
The high inflation has caused a lot of problems for millions of Venezuelans. Being a socialist country Venezuela promised to provide it's people with free or subsidized healthcare, education and other public services. However, with the government in so much debt it has not been able to provide any of this. Not having any money or availability of any other services the countries healthcare is in shambles. Most kids don't attend school mainly, due to starvation. People, have not been able to afford the little food that supermarkets store. Zoos animals have been dying as well as they are not fed. The people were fed up by the regime and it's inaction. So, the fact that Nicolas Maduro won a second term with a good margin is astounding. This was because fewer than half of the registered voters actually voted. Even, in that scenario the fact that he received 68 percent of the vote is still highly improbable. Maduro secured the second term through democratic fraud and voter intimidation. Venezuela effectively became a dictatorship. Protesters came on the street and many of them died in the fighting that ensued.
Glimmer of hope-
Juan Guaido is a 35-year-old engineer living in Venezuela. He is also the man that has managed to do what seemed to be impossible. He has united the scattered opposition in Venezuela. He has been serving as the President of Venezuela's National Assembly since the fifth of January 2019. A couple of weeks ago he declared himself the interim President of Venezuela. Since, he is the head of the Venezuelan National Assembly which is led by the opposition he does have this right. The head is supposed to take over as interim president if there is a "vacuum of power". Since, a lot of people agree that Nicolas Maduro has improperly placed himself in parliament, it's as if the seat is still empty. Juan has gained support of multiple countries around the world including the US and majority of the Middle East. The EU asked Maduro to hold elections but, the deadlines were ignored which puts them in the same boat as the US and allies. Juan has made promises to call elections and put Venezuela back on the track towards a fledgling democracy.
Empty promises-
Assuming that Juan Guaido is not just playing for power, the opposition still has a long way to go before they can take control. First and foremost they must gain the support of the army. Without the army it would become next to impossible for Venezuela's democracy to return. It is being said that the opposition is holding 'secret talks' with the army. Then, it would depend on what Nicolas Maduro has to hold onto power. Currently, with oil proving insufficient Mr. Maduro is going to reach for other resources. The main one is, gold. The Venezuelan government also has its allies. Mainly Turkey, Russia, UAE and China. Majority of them are Venezuela's biggest buyers of gold. With their support Nicolas Maduro could still cling onto power. But, all hope is not lost. Recently, the bank of England denied Venezuela's request to take it out it's more than 31 tones of gold from it's deposits. However, this was met with opposition, with protesters outside the bank demanding that they release the gold of the "Venezuelan people". As things are now, it seems that taking down Maduro will not be easy. Juan Guaido can make the promises. But, with Maduro's supporters back home and friends abroad, the US and its allies will have to interfere. Juan Guaido has said that he will not rule out authorizing US intervention. Especially since, aid from foreign country has been blocked by the military causing risk to thousands of Venezuelan lives. However, the US only responds when it wants to. A US congressman replied to Mr. Guaido by tweeting "You don't get to authorize US interventions". This makes you think if the US interfering, again, is really the best way to help.