Venezuela is enduring an economic depression and humanitarian crisis. In 2019, the US issued sanctions against the country in an attempt to restore its democracy.
Venezuela has been suffering a humanitarian crisis for years. The situation is so dire that an estimated 3 million Venezuelans have fled their homeland. After the country's economy collapsed in 2014, it's been plagued by hyperinflation as well as food and medicine shortages and power outages.We are experiencing a critical situation in Venezuela right now, and honestly it is really hard to live here or, well, to survive, because here no one really lives.
It starts with Hugo Chávez. He was elected as president of Venezuela in 1998, in large part thanks to his 21 st century-socialism message that promised to clean up corruption and balance economic inequality. As it happens, fortune was on his side.So Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela in 1999, and that coincided with a really big spike in oil prices in 2000.
At the same time, Maduro's opposition was swiftly gaining strength. In 2015, they gained a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, threatening Maduro's position as president. In response, Maduro stacked the Supreme Court with justices on his side. Then in 2017, Maduro created the National Constituent Assembly that would rewrite the constitution and effectively bypass the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
And to make things worse, hyperinflation set in. It's basically like inflation on steroids. Prices increase more and at a faster rate. For example, in August of 2018, a roll of toilet paper in Caracas cost 2.6 million bolívars, the equivalent of 40 American cents. The bolívar is so devalued that Venezuelans need large sums of cash to buy small amounts of items.
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