by Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper:
Although I have done my best to try and describe most of what we have gone through, I realize there are some gaps that I should cover, and new readers that could benefit from an update.
Let´s say it plain and simple:
What were the factors that led to the economic crisis in Venezuela?
- Currency control
- An incredible level of corruption
- The seizing of the public institutions
These are the root causes. Everything started because of these three criminal actions. We did not need a currency control. With a proper monetary adjustment and tying our currency to the USD or Euro, it was enough. They needed it to launder illegal money and to avoid people getting wealthy with their trade. They needed a poor population, depending on a bag of food issued by the seized State.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
I think we are about to face this situation in many countries, so it would be very useful for any fellow out there to learn from our experience.
How did it begin?
Living in Venezuela until 2013 was relatively peaceful initially. There was some turmoil and unrest, of course, and people were starting to get uneasy. Being the discreet man I am, I just went to work on my bicycle, trying to avoid being noticed. I left my SUV at home because driving it was too conspicuous and could leave me defenseless in the middle of a riot, turmoil, or shooting.
Usually, the demonstrations started on the main avenue by 11 AM, sometimes earlier, and everything was usually quiet again by 5 PM. I had an advantage: I could ride my bicycle through a private subdivision to avoid getting into the middle of the agitation, and that offered some more protection than the open streets, where you could occasionally stumble upon some thugs who would ruin your day.
Keep in mind that Hugo died in 2012, and the streets started to get stirred up after that. Violence started to erupt. The difference this time, as I explained in other previous articles, was that convicts previously released from prison were given weapons (paid with state money, supposedly to defend the “integrity of the Homeland”) to attack the demonstrations with live gunfire. It’s part of the needed plot for a terrorist, rogue state. No investigation and no troopers were involved to avoid international interventions. Never think that it cannot happen wherever you are. This is a global method to spread fear. Just see what recently happened in France.
Other than this situation, the fact of the economy tanking was a stress factor that would make most people flee.
Let’s divide the 2013-2021 period into three stages, to ease further analysis.
The thing with hyperinflation is that it attacks over several months. Unless you have some means to protect yourself against it, whatever capital you may have put together will dissolve like cotton candy in a water bowl. The more I see its effects, the more I am convinced that it is an engineered process. The rumors of our national currency devaluation usually started on Friday night. By next Monday, all the prices were much higher, 30% or 40% higher. Everything was so sudden that if you didn’t buy daily, the next day you could find the money you had for that wouldn’t be enough.
It’s terrifying if you depend on a wage in the depreciated currency. Like I did. Imagine if you have a medical emergency like we did with our mom and the recent virus…we barely made it. Check the real base wage in this article, graph Nr. 6 page 9.
2012-2015
Happily, back then, I had a decent second income in USD, working for a company not Venezuela-based. This allowed me to cope with the worst of the situation. I had some food stashed, enough for the 3 of us living in the house at that moment for 3.5 months. I could build an elevated water tank (I paid for it to be built, to be honest), remodel all the bathrooms, one of which had a bad leak that almost destroyed a wall, and rebuild some roofs. Some stone masonry work in the backyard walls to make them look nicer and avoid in the future the use of any paint was another improvement that would prove to be a good one.
As I previously explained, also in another article, some of my ex’s family (unrelated to me) came looking for better opportunities in our area, being oil producing and all that, and staying for three months. Our pantry was quickly emptied, leaving us without any reserves. It was a family contingency, though. I never denied support to someone in need.
The worst of the crisis had not even begun. The peak and the worst impact would be in the lapse of a couple of years, like in 2015-2019. The gang leaders yelled incoherently from the microphones, “Sanctions, US blockage, yadda yadda”…and people ignored their nonsense, empty words. The most violent ones threatened on TV and media to the “traitors” who dared to “oppose the Revolution” with prison in their gulags.
These were dark times, but most of us tried to keep living peacefully, albeit the turmoil in the big cities was worrisome. It was then that I used my savings to get my CNC equipment, with the idea of using it to build a home-based business if things went sideways. The negative part is that the economy crashed for all of us, and the market for this type of machining business tanked, too.
This process took like one year and a half and ruined most of our industrial infrastructure. One after another, different industries were shutting down. Pharmaceuticals, car parts, petrochemicals, all these industries decided to cut their losses and leave.
2015 – 2018
Beginning in the second half of 2015, this period was the real turning point. It ended with 10 million percent inflation, a record that few countries have experienced and that no country should ever experience again.
Read More @ TheOrganicPrepper.ca
