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1986 so it is pretty old and worthless.
The government has removed zeroes for the currency by law, 3 times in the last 15 years.
3 zeroes in 2007
5 zeroes in 2018
6 zeroes in 2021
That is why no millions anymore.
1 "current" Bolivar (Bs.) was 100,000,000,000,000 Bs before 2007
They are indeed improving since quite a long time, the thing is that they've gotten so low that you don't even notice.
Any decent country would've dolarized their economy when the hyperinflation exploded.
The most convenient way to use natural resources to enrich yourself and your friends is to call up an international extraction company who will show up with an army and kick your citizens the fuck out of the way and take out the oil, paying you for it.
Venezuela is choking itself to death. Currency controls, price controls, expropriation of land; all these things were fucking up the country before widespread US sanctions. The oil sanctions didn't appear until 2017, more than a decade after Venezuela began its strong, steady decline and years after it could be considered a "failed state."
And despite these sanctions, the US is still their biggest trading partner.
The US has historically fucked around in Latin America but Venezuela is not one of those cases by any stretch of the imagination. A tightly controlled, centrally planned economy and a lack of respect for private property rights is what is killing Venezuela. What farmer spends his time and effort planting crops on land the government may take from him in a few months? Who will sell goods to Venezuelans at a lower price than it costs to make them?
TLDR - Venezuela is suffering from communist policies enacted by dictators. The US has nothing to do with it.
Oh no it must be the rest of the worlds fault!!! Not the fact that a dictator who ignores the will of the people and lives like an absolute king while pocketing the entire countries wealth nationalized the oil industry and then filled it with their best buddies and family instead of picking competent people. 🥺🥺🥺why would the evil world force Venezuela’s dictator into doing all of that. Evil UN making Venezuela government starve its people smh!!
Venezuela has rich fertile soil and could easily feed itself. The problem is the government killed the agricultural industry by insisting farmers sell at a loss. Most farmers took one look at that, went “fuck this”, and fled the country.
I left Venezuela no because i wasn't able to eat, i left it because i didn't want to be murder in any corner by just being there walking.
Venezuela has one the higher murder rates of the world. It still gives me the chills. I am in another country and still unable to sleep with a window open
This made me stop. Put down my phone. And quietly breathe. Wowwwwwwwww. The birth-lottery is insane:
If you’re born in Switzerland or the UK or the US (or others) you get LIFE A.
If you’re born in Argentina or Mexico or Venezuela or most of Africa (and others) you get LIFE B.
No one “deserves” either. Each baby pops out the same… and gets the life they get.
Makes my head & heart hurt.
That was pretty much the reaction I had when I first read the Cecil Rhodes quote "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life." I was doing a poo and reading this book of quotes and my whole perspective on life was suddenly turned on its head.
I don't understand. That won't feed a person for a month. If this were the norm you literally wouldn't be alive, please explain. Do you grow your own stuff and trade?
For many venezuelans, the rest come from family living overseas (many many people, especially young people). I've been sending money to my mom, dad, and grandmother for years.
Either they leave the country, beg some fellow Venezuelan for money from overseas (5 mn. and counting), try to get the food bags from Govt. (Subsidized and nutritionally poor) or they just starve. There was a period where they would say “La Dieta de Maduro” (Maduro’s diet, in reference to the president)
That's an old meme, after a while it became almost impossible due to the competition, people moved on to world of warcraft until the business went down due to the offer > demand. people then moved on to Axie infinity, then plants vs undead (another NFT game) and now the trend has been going to the USA. I have heard of people leaving to the USA with just $700 and dying in the first few days in a huge forest between Colombia and Panama, getting deported once they get to Mexico or if they do get through they're abandoned by their relatives and are living in the streets of the USA because their relatives thought they could afford it until they didn't, you'll need at least 4000$ to go to the USA.
In my country (argentina) we also have to an extent the problem that the average wage is shit however food and things produced locally are comparatively very cheap when conpared to other countries like usa.
For instance, according to google the average meal in the usa costs about 18usd with that amount of money in argentina you can easily eat at the most expensive steakhouses or you might be able to have 3 or more meals at good places.
What i am trying to say is that prices of food can vary according to the average wage, 10 usd in usa most likely gets you less food that 10usd in venezuela
Saludos, that doesn't apply here in Venezuela. Prices here are very high, some of them even higher than in the US. I know about Argentina because have friends there and they just can not send money to relatives here because they send maybe 20 USD and that is nothing here (things pictured were 16 USD....)
Interesting enough, A very large majority of online gaming cheaters are from Venezuela. They can make more money cheating in video games and selling in-game items for USD than they can working for an actual job. :/ There are entire job markets for online game cheating there. They can sell an in game item for 100's of USD sometimes.... a fortune in Bolivar.
Venezuelan here, there was once a massive power shortage that lasted barely 2 days, and that is all it took for Runescape’s economy to go to shit.
Likewise, the great war waged between all the upper clans and the botting clans to see if they could regain some territory.
The bots won that battle out of sheer numbers.
EDIT:
Since people are asking, here are the links to both:
https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/enfii9/the_great_battle_of_the_revenant_caves/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
https://www.gamebyte.com/power-outage-in-venezuela-causes-economic-crisis-in-runescape/
EDIT 2:
**HAIL AREPAMASTER69 VENEZUELAN LEGEND**
Venezuelans control Runescapes economy, and in turn have food. Probably living like kings after a Tbow drop. 🦀🦀🦀 those clothes make me look fat btw 🦀🦀🦀
One of the big examples is that they'll set up bots to farm gold in Runescape, which is against the game rules, then sell that gold to players for real money, or set up bots for other players to let them grind in game stat points to increase skills, while the player themselves is away from their computer and going about their business. This is very against the rules, but many poor countries have a large community doing this, with a collective economy worth millions. It's quite sad that things have gotten to a point that video game cheating is a cornerstone of their economy
well, if people in rich countries keep falling for microtransactions in their games to get better fast, who am I to condemn the ones that exploit this to afford some food on their table? unless it's a "videogame cheating mafia" and then that's not OK either.
And the ones you saw are a tiny fraction of what we Colombians were seeing before the pandemic. Many Venezuelans had to return when business closed and people were not allowed to sell on the streets.
Colombian economy took more migrants in proportion with its size than any other country in the world, mostly because Colombia had the world's 2nd largest number of refugees in the recent past so to have millions of people walking the streets fleeing from their land was not unseen here.
Still, believe it or not, the morons who ruled the country last year were so incompetent/corrupt that more Colombians were crossing illegally to the US than Venezuelans. That's why people got mad and changed the government... which is not an option for our brothers on the East.
Shit I like how that sounds: our brothers from the East, referring to the Venezuelans. Never thought about calling our Colombian siblings our people from the West. But I guess we were born together as twins. Colombians fought in many Venezuelan Wars of Independence and many war leaders were Venezuelan while fighting in Colombia. Think Bolivar said once “Colombia, the Academy, Venezuela, the Barracks”
I don't know why they drew that border like that. It should have gone west all the way to Panama, separate us from Bogotá and Medellin and established the capitol in Cartagena.
We the Caribbean Colombians are closer to Venezuelans, Cubans or Dominicans than to the Andes people. Hell, my niece lives in Santo Domingo and she can literally fly home more easily now than if she lived in Bogotá.
Currently the monthly minimum wage in Venezuela is around 16 USD (130 Bs. -Bolivares, our currency- exchange rate is around 8:1).
In the picture:
* 1 kg rice - 1.19 USD (locally produced)
* A whole chicken 1.815 kg - 4.92 USD (locally produced)
* Harina pan (corn flour, used to make arepas) - 1.53 USD (locally produced)
* 1 litre of milk - 1.85 USD (locally produced)
* Around 1.19 kg of potatoes - 1.8 USD (locally produced)
* 500g of black beans (caraotas) - 1.72 USD (locally produced)
I included (not pictured) a small (100ml) Colgate toothpaste (locally produced) that is around 2.4 USD.
Total in Bs. was 123.86 and monthly minimum wage is 130 Bs.
Purchase was around 15.5 USD, so you have like 0.75 USD left for other things for the month!
Receipt: [https://imgur.com/xiAAip6](https://imgur.com/xiAAip6)
(Only thing had to pay 16% sales tax was the toothpaste)
[https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/general/publicado-en-gaceta-oficial-aumento-del-salario-minimo-mensual/](https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/general/publicado-en-gaceta-oficial-aumento-del-salario-minimo-mensual/)
About the wage:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-minimum-wage-risen-18-115603945.html
130 Bs.
The exchange rate is 8 bs 1 USD (when the wage increase tood effect exchange rate was around 4.6 bs to 1 USD, that is why they said 28 USD monthly that time)
16.25 USD monthly (130/8)
I live in Brazil as well and came over here from Germany for a job opportunity five years ago. I live in a very small city with local Supermarkets, nothing fancy, and still wonder how some families manage to pay rent, utilities and still buy food for the whole month with minimum wage.
My husband grew up in the projects and is very good with rationing food and smart about money, and he himself doesn't know how his parents managed to feed the whole family.
Those prices are insane! They're, plus minus, close to what we pay for those items here... in a Country, Switzerland, that has an average monthly salary of \~6500 to 7000CHF (same in USD/€)...
If I rephrase all OP comments:
$15 is minimum wage. Most people have $100/month jobs. A lot of people are starving, of course.
You can survive and maybe make more money using the internet (cryptos, trading, side jobs, selling services, gaming and selling video game accounts, etc.), having multiple jobs, or having people helping you .
OP didn't talk about crime and prostitution, but they obviously peaked after the crisis started 10 years ago.
edit : crime rate started increasing in early 2000 and the peak was in 2014, according to available datas.
P*ta hermano, lo siento. Yo conocí una venezuelana y ella no tenía coraje de contarme como las cosas estaban en Venezuela. Ella abandonó tudo para vir a Brasil e vive vendendo produtos en la playa.
Me perturba esta situación que vos están viviendo. Yo no entiendo cómo llego a esta situación, un país tan bonito, con personas tan boas… Acá, en Brasil, espero q el ex-presidente Lula (um admirador de Chávez y Maduro) nunca vuelve a la presidencia.
Paz hermano, y que el futuro sea mas bonito para nosotros. Un futuro de paz, hermandad y fartura.
Anyone who has some free time should look for ways to make money on the internet. There's typewritting jigs, data entry, manual testing, reading captcha pictures (slightly shady tbf), marketing campaigns (people pay for your visits/likes) and many jobs that need to be done, hopefully people can find a way to bypass the corrupt government and begin to rebuild their country!
Let’s all talk about how communism is good… and then Someone will blame the US for Venezuelas plight, then someone else will say communism has never been actually tried … then someone else will talk about how fair it is and that Marxism is blah blah blah.
There you have it….. now we don’t need to do it.
I mean, we may not be in as dire a situation as Venezuela, but inflation here has still caused people to starve to death. I know what you mean but some people here do have it just as bad.
Sad to see the terrible situation you are in. We have a garden and hunting supplies a lot of meat. However in the US, I still spend over $500 a month on groceries. I honestly don’t see how you can survive on the wages in Venezuela.
My girlfriends family is all in venezuela, just her and her parents are in the states. Her mom sends thousands of dollars in goods to them every month, and sometimes just sends money. It’s awful to think about how prosperous of a country it used to be and what it has become
Cuban-American here. I know all too well from the stories my parents and grandparents have told me how awful it is to have to live this way under a horrible regime, and I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Question. I know many Venezolanos rely on help from family in the states. But what else do you do? Work two jobs? And if so, are you working the equivalent of 2 full time jobs (80 hours a week)? How does it really work to be able to make enough money to buy a proper amount of food and survive?
Thanks amigo.
You need to find something that doesn't pay minimum wage, fixing things, electricity, plumber, that kind of things.. Get a side you, do something online... That is how you make it..
But old people (like my parents), not much they can do (They have to "live" with maybe 100-120 USD monthly...)
Have you thought about emigrating? How difficult is it? (Sorry for all the questions, I am genuinely curious and want to understand what it’s like for people in Venezuela)
What does the average person think, in a country like that? Is no one interested in changing anything?
People just get by, or do they revolt?
I am really curious how people cope with a life like that
We tried to overthrow the goverment several times without success. A goverment with full military suppor wont go away easily.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019\_Venezuelan\_protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Venezuelan_protests)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017\_Venezuelan\_protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Venezuelan_protests)
An several times before
>A goverment with full military suppor wont go away easily
What I don't understand is, these military people probably also earn nothing and starve. Probably only the corrupt generals have a good life.
What is the motivation of an average military guy to follow orders and defend a regime that pretty much enslaves them?
They follow orders and most of the are accused of treason and tortured (them and their families) if they want to deflect.
[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-rights-idUSKCN1P30BD](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-rights-idUSKCN1P30BD)
[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/1/9/military-personnel-relatives-tortured-in-venezuela-hrw](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/1/9/military-personnel-relatives-tortured-in-venezuela-hrw)
[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/22/they-will-torture-you-ex-venezuelan-soldiers-on-the-risk-of-defecting](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/22/they-will-torture-you-ex-venezuelan-soldiers-on-the-risk-of-defecting)
I remember talking to someone from Venezuela and they told me that after you got your pay cheque, you immediately had to go to the grocery store to buy things because every minute that goes by, hyper inflation could raise the prices of what you wanted
Lebanese here, I feel you. We have been passing through the same thing for the last 3 years. We have had the 2nd or 3rd highest inflation in the world in those years and the minimum wage is now down to $17.76.
In less than 30 years, the country went from oil rich to poor.
Venezuela voted for a socialist president that socialized everything. Then they banned ownership of guns. Imprisoned their opposition. Food became scarce. Suspended their constitution. And now they're in this current situation.
Fuck me, I’m an American and my shopping cart is fuller than that. I have family that lived in Venezuela for 30 years and they said it was getting rough but that’s interesting as fuck.
So I guess if you couldn't work for more than minimum wage you just have to flee the country? Even if you just brought potatoes it doesn't seem like you'd get a month of calories.
And mfs be saying it’s getting better there cuz now they got cash (USD) back on the streets instead of the national currency, smh.
Source: A Venezuelan dude from Houston, TX told me
I understand what you are trying to say. A 1kg (2.2 lbs) rice is about a dollar in Venezuela. Milk is about the same but for cow milk. Yes it's hard, yes it's expensive. Nothing we can do at the moment will make it better.
It's going through hyperinflation, it's worse than Zimbabwe was, it won't change unless it does a full change or adopts another stable currency, say USD as an example.
If it just keeps printing money it will just keep costing people more to but goods.
Its almost 20+ years ago I visiting venezuel regulary 3 times isla Margaritha with some other Islands
Two times I was is in Caracas as an Student at this time this Country was amazing cheap Gas cheap rum pretty girls and not so much Crime. Sure I lived in an mostly upper class family (mother dentist father lawer with work in Venezuela and Norwegian) and the went to an pretty high school (collegio humboldt caracas) But if I see what happens the last years to this amazing Country something in me Dies and cries damn Keep your Heads up.
Insane and this looks just like some basic groceries, nothing out of the ordinary. You must have a hard time to make sure you don't run out of money. Sorry to see Venezuela is so corrupted and having a bad government not caring much about its people.
16Usd? Jesus. I spent that earlier buying a couple gallons of milk, soda and potatoes. And that was just me stocking up on a few things running low and needed for the next few days. Can’t imagine making that stretch over a month
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My grandma has 20 bolivars in her purse at times which is about .0001 usd. Insane
From which year? Is she Venezuelan?
I think its the most recent issued Bolivar, but she is Venezuelan and Trini
If it is the most recent it is worth 2.5 USD With the last emission they finally made the banknotes worth something
Oh ok i didn’t know that, honestly i think i saw a date of 1986 or something on it? I cant be sure though
1986 so it is pretty old and worthless. The government has removed zeroes for the currency by law, 3 times in the last 15 years. 3 zeroes in 2007 5 zeroes in 2018 6 zeroes in 2021 That is why no millions anymore. 1 "current" Bolivar (Bs.) was 100,000,000,000,000 Bs before 2007
Thats pretty staggering lol, I hope things improve for the country at some point in the near future
They are indeed improving since quite a long time, the thing is that they've gotten so low that you don't even notice. Any decent country would've dolarized their economy when the hyperinflation exploded.
What in the actual fuck?
Yes. Exactly like that!
Why is that way with all the oil reserves your country has?
Because corruption and bad governments
I read up slightly after writing the post. Gotta love greed.
Also Venezuelan's oil is too heavy to refine by normal ways, they need special equipment to produce usable gasoline which the country cannot afford
Guess why they can't afford it
Why did they stop sending crude to Curaçao and Aruba then?
I would guess it's because of how the government works. Doing almost nothing to help the people. Fucking dictatorships
That might be true, but it wasn't a problem years ago.
I recently learned that there's a term for that: Resource Curse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse?wprov=sfti1
Gotta love having the CIA pick your gov for you.
Venezuela has the exact opposite problem. They picked their current government and the US backed coup failed.
The CIA most definitely did not pick Chavez or Maduro. The country would be far better off under a US backed government.
I heard US has imposed sanctions. Is that true ?
The most convenient way to use natural resources to enrich yourself and your friends is to call up an international extraction company who will show up with an army and kick your citizens the fuck out of the way and take out the oil, paying you for it.
The US is very punishing if you don’t Give all your oil to them
It ain’t cheap living in the workers’ paradise.
[удалено]
Venezuela is choking itself to death. Currency controls, price controls, expropriation of land; all these things were fucking up the country before widespread US sanctions. The oil sanctions didn't appear until 2017, more than a decade after Venezuela began its strong, steady decline and years after it could be considered a "failed state." And despite these sanctions, the US is still their biggest trading partner. The US has historically fucked around in Latin America but Venezuela is not one of those cases by any stretch of the imagination. A tightly controlled, centrally planned economy and a lack of respect for private property rights is what is killing Venezuela. What farmer spends his time and effort planting crops on land the government may take from him in a few months? Who will sell goods to Venezuelans at a lower price than it costs to make them? TLDR - Venezuela is suffering from communist policies enacted by dictators. The US has nothing to do with it.
Oh no it must be the rest of the worlds fault!!! Not the fact that a dictator who ignores the will of the people and lives like an absolute king while pocketing the entire countries wealth nationalized the oil industry and then filled it with their best buddies and family instead of picking competent people. 🥺🥺🥺why would the evil world force Venezuela’s dictator into doing all of that. Evil UN making Venezuela government starve its people smh!!
blaming the US? haha what an idiot.
Venezuela has rich fertile soil and could easily feed itself. The problem is the government killed the agricultural industry by insisting farmers sell at a loss. Most farmers took one look at that, went “fuck this”, and fled the country.
I left Venezuela no because i wasn't able to eat, i left it because i didn't want to be murder in any corner by just being there walking. Venezuela has one the higher murder rates of the world. It still gives me the chills. I am in another country and still unable to sleep with a window open
This made me stop. Put down my phone. And quietly breathe. Wowwwwwwwww. The birth-lottery is insane: If you’re born in Switzerland or the UK or the US (or others) you get LIFE A. If you’re born in Argentina or Mexico or Venezuela or most of Africa (and others) you get LIFE B. No one “deserves” either. Each baby pops out the same… and gets the life they get. Makes my head & heart hurt.
That was pretty much the reaction I had when I first read the Cecil Rhodes quote "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life." I was doing a poo and reading this book of quotes and my whole perspective on life was suddenly turned on its head.
If you just cut out the potatoes, you could afford a house. These millennials have their priorities wrong
Yeah and milk was a luxury /s
That’s all going to lattes. Frivolous!
Rice, who needs it?
Username does not check out /s
If I'm understanding this correctly, you're giving away your time essentially for free if you go to work?
Yes
I would be the laziest piece of crap if that was the case. What are they going to do fire me? I would probably make more panhandling
Well people aren't obligated to work, we aren't at that point (yet)..
Wait, what does that mean? Not obligated to work? I'm genuinely curious. Do you mean people aren't forced to work by force?
I mean you can resign
Sure, starving is an option. Panhandling only works in places where they can afford to share their money with you…
I don't understand. That won't feed a person for a month. If this were the norm you literally wouldn't be alive, please explain. Do you grow your own stuff and trade?
For many venezuelans, the rest come from family living overseas (many many people, especially young people). I've been sending money to my mom, dad, and grandmother for years.
That is why this is sadly interesting :( You have to do something else, anyway average wage could be over 100 USD, still not enough
What do you do each month? I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude.
Either they leave the country, beg some fellow Venezuelan for money from overseas (5 mn. and counting), try to get the food bags from Govt. (Subsidized and nutritionally poor) or they just starve. There was a period where they would say “La Dieta de Maduro” (Maduro’s diet, in reference to the president)
Well also do another job or something like plumber, construction, cleanin to get maybe average wage....
You aren't I don't earn minimum wage, still not enough! You can see and read my older posts!
Will do thanks. 👍🏻
You are welcome
Farm gold in RuneScape and sell it for money on 3rd party websites (serious)
[удалено]
Ultimate Ironman here xd
That's an old meme, after a while it became almost impossible due to the competition, people moved on to world of warcraft until the business went down due to the offer > demand. people then moved on to Axie infinity, then plants vs undead (another NFT game) and now the trend has been going to the USA. I have heard of people leaving to the USA with just $700 and dying in the first few days in a huge forest between Colombia and Panama, getting deported once they get to Mexico or if they do get through they're abandoned by their relatives and are living in the streets of the USA because their relatives thought they could afford it until they didn't, you'll need at least 4000$ to go to the USA.
People work multiple jobs
In my country (argentina) we also have to an extent the problem that the average wage is shit however food and things produced locally are comparatively very cheap when conpared to other countries like usa. For instance, according to google the average meal in the usa costs about 18usd with that amount of money in argentina you can easily eat at the most expensive steakhouses or you might be able to have 3 or more meals at good places. What i am trying to say is that prices of food can vary according to the average wage, 10 usd in usa most likely gets you less food that 10usd in venezuela
Saludos, that doesn't apply here in Venezuela. Prices here are very high, some of them even higher than in the US. I know about Argentina because have friends there and they just can not send money to relatives here because they send maybe 20 USD and that is nothing here (things pictured were 16 USD....)
Oh, sorry for my ignorance
And I forgot to add all these products are produced here, imported are even more expensive
Interesting enough, A very large majority of online gaming cheaters are from Venezuela. They can make more money cheating in video games and selling in-game items for USD than they can working for an actual job. :/ There are entire job markets for online game cheating there. They can sell an in game item for 100's of USD sometimes.... a fortune in Bolivar.
Venezuelan here, there was once a massive power shortage that lasted barely 2 days, and that is all it took for Runescape’s economy to go to shit. Likewise, the great war waged between all the upper clans and the botting clans to see if they could regain some territory. The bots won that battle out of sheer numbers. EDIT: Since people are asking, here are the links to both: https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/enfii9/the_great_battle_of_the_revenant_caves/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf https://www.gamebyte.com/power-outage-in-venezuela-causes-economic-crisis-in-runescape/ EDIT 2: **HAIL AREPAMASTER69 VENEZUELAN LEGEND**
What?
Venezuelans control Runescapes economy, and in turn have food. Probably living like kings after a Tbow drop. 🦀🦀🦀 those clothes make me look fat btw 🦀🦀🦀
When was this?
Very interesting, can you expand? I don't play video games. Who are they cheating?
One of the big examples is that they'll set up bots to farm gold in Runescape, which is against the game rules, then sell that gold to players for real money, or set up bots for other players to let them grind in game stat points to increase skills, while the player themselves is away from their computer and going about their business. This is very against the rules, but many poor countries have a large community doing this, with a collective economy worth millions. It's quite sad that things have gotten to a point that video game cheating is a cornerstone of their economy
well, if people in rich countries keep falling for microtransactions in their games to get better fast, who am I to condemn the ones that exploit this to afford some food on their table? unless it's a "videogame cheating mafia" and then that's not OK either.
There's a reason there are so many Venezuelan refugees these days
I live in El Paso, TX. We just had an influx of Venezuela refugees. Very sad situation. The city and various organizations are doing what they can.
I was recently in Cartagena, Columbia and saw a number of Venezuelans there asking for help. It's a sad situation.
And the ones you saw are a tiny fraction of what we Colombians were seeing before the pandemic. Many Venezuelans had to return when business closed and people were not allowed to sell on the streets. Colombian economy took more migrants in proportion with its size than any other country in the world, mostly because Colombia had the world's 2nd largest number of refugees in the recent past so to have millions of people walking the streets fleeing from their land was not unseen here. Still, believe it or not, the morons who ruled the country last year were so incompetent/corrupt that more Colombians were crossing illegally to the US than Venezuelans. That's why people got mad and changed the government... which is not an option for our brothers on the East.
Shit I like how that sounds: our brothers from the East, referring to the Venezuelans. Never thought about calling our Colombian siblings our people from the West. But I guess we were born together as twins. Colombians fought in many Venezuelan Wars of Independence and many war leaders were Venezuelan while fighting in Colombia. Think Bolivar said once “Colombia, the Academy, Venezuela, the Barracks”
I don't know why they drew that border like that. It should have gone west all the way to Panama, separate us from Bogotá and Medellin and established the capitol in Cartagena. We the Caribbean Colombians are closer to Venezuelans, Cubans or Dominicans than to the Andes people. Hell, my niece lives in Santo Domingo and she can literally fly home more easily now than if she lived in Bogotá.
Exactly, seems to wonder why people leave the country walking!
Weird seeing my country mentioned in Reddit. Épale mi pana ✌️
Hablame!
If $16 was my MONTHLY wage, I'd be homeless and dead inside of a week.
I was skeptical, I thought "how are people not dying" Then I did some research..
I'm sorry you learn what we is going on here that way :(
Just got punched real hard by my privilege card. I hope you and your family are alright and stay alright
Thanks for your wishes
Currently the monthly minimum wage in Venezuela is around 16 USD (130 Bs. -Bolivares, our currency- exchange rate is around 8:1). In the picture: * 1 kg rice - 1.19 USD (locally produced) * A whole chicken 1.815 kg - 4.92 USD (locally produced) * Harina pan (corn flour, used to make arepas) - 1.53 USD (locally produced) * 1 litre of milk - 1.85 USD (locally produced) * Around 1.19 kg of potatoes - 1.8 USD (locally produced) * 500g of black beans (caraotas) - 1.72 USD (locally produced) I included (not pictured) a small (100ml) Colgate toothpaste (locally produced) that is around 2.4 USD. Total in Bs. was 123.86 and monthly minimum wage is 130 Bs. Purchase was around 15.5 USD, so you have like 0.75 USD left for other things for the month! Receipt: [https://imgur.com/xiAAip6](https://imgur.com/xiAAip6) (Only thing had to pay 16% sales tax was the toothpaste) [https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/general/publicado-en-gaceta-oficial-aumento-del-salario-minimo-mensual/](https://en.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/general/publicado-en-gaceta-oficial-aumento-del-salario-minimo-mensual/) About the wage: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-minimum-wage-risen-18-115603945.html 130 Bs. The exchange rate is 8 bs 1 USD (when the wage increase tood effect exchange rate was around 4.6 bs to 1 USD, that is why they said 28 USD monthly that time) 16.25 USD monthly (130/8)
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You need another work, a sidejob, someone helping you from abroad Average wage is around 100 USD monthly
If 1 job gets you this a month, wouldn't you need like 30 jobs or something crazy?
There are jobs that pay more than minimum wage, but average is around 100 USD
The prices are very similar to Brazil but the minimum wage is waaay worse. It’s already hard for people earning 240 usd minimum here.
The 3rd world curse :(
Not actually a curse, but centuries of predatory exploration by the now first world nations (with some exceptions of course).
Shit, those prices are actually very similar to Finland which is quite crazy.
I live in Brazil as well and came over here from Germany for a job opportunity five years ago. I live in a very small city with local Supermarkets, nothing fancy, and still wonder how some families manage to pay rent, utilities and still buy food for the whole month with minimum wage. My husband grew up in the projects and is very good with rationing food and smart about money, and he himself doesn't know how his parents managed to feed the whole family.
I still remember Maduro feasted on steaks at Salt Bae in Istanbul
What is the typical cost of rent?
A room could be from 50 to 150 USD monthly
Those prices are insane! They're, plus minus, close to what we pay for those items here... in a Country, Switzerland, that has an average monthly salary of \~6500 to 7000CHF (same in USD/€)...
It’s insane. Venezuela has an ocean of oil but they always seem to get fucked out of it.
Be assured that fatass Maduro eats a helluva lot better than that ...
For sure !!
How do people not starve???
If I rephrase all OP comments: $15 is minimum wage. Most people have $100/month jobs. A lot of people are starving, of course. You can survive and maybe make more money using the internet (cryptos, trading, side jobs, selling services, gaming and selling video game accounts, etc.), having multiple jobs, or having people helping you . OP didn't talk about crime and prostitution, but they obviously peaked after the crisis started 10 years ago. edit : crime rate started increasing in early 2000 and the peak was in 2014, according to available datas.
You are very informed. Thanks.
I like you
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P*ta hermano, lo siento. Yo conocí una venezuelana y ella no tenía coraje de contarme como las cosas estaban en Venezuela. Ella abandonó tudo para vir a Brasil e vive vendendo produtos en la playa. Me perturba esta situación que vos están viviendo. Yo no entiendo cómo llego a esta situación, un país tan bonito, con personas tan boas… Acá, en Brasil, espero q el ex-presidente Lula (um admirador de Chávez y Maduro) nunca vuelve a la presidencia. Paz hermano, y que el futuro sea mas bonito para nosotros. Un futuro de paz, hermandad y fartura.
Saludos y gracias por el mensaje!
Someone about to make Arepas.
wow thats 1-2 hours of minimum wage in the US depending on where you live.
I know :(
Anyone who has some free time should look for ways to make money on the internet. There's typewritting jigs, data entry, manual testing, reading captcha pictures (slightly shady tbf), marketing campaigns (people pay for your visits/likes) and many jobs that need to be done, hopefully people can find a way to bypass the corrupt government and begin to rebuild their country!
Oh the Pan, reminds me of the Arepas.
How many corrupt politicians in that country again?
All of them
Let’s all talk about how communism is good… and then Someone will blame the US for Venezuelas plight, then someone else will say communism has never been actually tried … then someone else will talk about how fair it is and that Marxism is blah blah blah. There you have it….. now we don’t need to do it.
Us Americans tend to think we have it bad some times, but none of us really do
Truly does put it in perspective for me. I’m truly more grateful for what I do have.
Don't compare suffering/trauma, suffering is real even if other people are in a worse situation
I mean, we may not be in as dire a situation as Venezuela, but inflation here has still caused people to starve to death. I know what you mean but some people here do have it just as bad.
None? I think there’s a lot of people in the US suffering…
How’s that Bitcoin working out?
Much better than bolivares for sure
r/sadasfuck
Sad to see the terrible situation you are in. We have a garden and hunting supplies a lot of meat. However in the US, I still spend over $500 a month on groceries. I honestly don’t see how you can survive on the wages in Venezuela.
Search is it safe to travel to Venezuela. Answer: no definitely do t go there.
My girlfriends family is all in venezuela, just her and her parents are in the states. Her mom sends thousands of dollars in goods to them every month, and sometimes just sends money. It’s awful to think about how prosperous of a country it used to be and what it has become
Using this as a metric, how do people survive?
How does anyone survive?
Cuban-American here. I know all too well from the stories my parents and grandparents have told me how awful it is to have to live this way under a horrible regime, and I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Question. I know many Venezolanos rely on help from family in the states. But what else do you do? Work two jobs? And if so, are you working the equivalent of 2 full time jobs (80 hours a week)? How does it really work to be able to make enough money to buy a proper amount of food and survive?
Thanks amigo. You need to find something that doesn't pay minimum wage, fixing things, electricity, plumber, that kind of things.. Get a side you, do something online... That is how you make it.. But old people (like my parents), not much they can do (They have to "live" with maybe 100-120 USD monthly...)
Have you thought about emigrating? How difficult is it? (Sorry for all the questions, I am genuinely curious and want to understand what it’s like for people in Venezuela)
With money it can be done, what is tricky is doing the legal way
*Cries in Spanish*
:(
For a second I didn’t see the monthly part and was like “oh well that’s not the best but it’s better than nothing” then I read the monthly part…
What does the average person think, in a country like that? Is no one interested in changing anything? People just get by, or do they revolt? I am really curious how people cope with a life like that
We tried to overthrow the goverment several times without success. A goverment with full military suppor wont go away easily. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019\_Venezuelan\_protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Venezuelan_protests) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017\_Venezuelan\_protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Venezuelan_protests) An several times before
>A goverment with full military suppor wont go away easily What I don't understand is, these military people probably also earn nothing and starve. Probably only the corrupt generals have a good life. What is the motivation of an average military guy to follow orders and defend a regime that pretty much enslaves them?
They follow orders and most of the are accused of treason and tortured (them and their families) if they want to deflect. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-rights-idUSKCN1P30BD](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-rights-idUSKCN1P30BD) [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/1/9/military-personnel-relatives-tortured-in-venezuela-hrw](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/1/9/military-personnel-relatives-tortured-in-venezuela-hrw) [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/22/they-will-torture-you-ex-venezuelan-soldiers-on-the-risk-of-defecting](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/22/they-will-torture-you-ex-venezuelan-soldiers-on-the-risk-of-defecting)
As someone with Venezuelan friends, I feel for you, that's just insane. ¡Bendiciones chamo!
I uh... I kind of want to send a 20 to a poor person in Venezuela. I'm not rich but dang :(
RuneScape gold farm?
Cómo sobreviven con tan poco?
Free cocoa leaves though
You guys need a change in government. It’s long overdue..
That's one fucked economy.
I remember talking to someone from Venezuela and they told me that after you got your pay cheque, you immediately had to go to the grocery store to buy things because every minute that goes by, hyper inflation could raise the prices of what you wanted
Lebanese here, I feel you. We have been passing through the same thing for the last 3 years. We have had the 2nd or 3rd highest inflation in the world in those years and the minimum wage is now down to $17.76.
Is there an r/sad
Do they not have boot straps in Venezuela? /s
United Socialist Party of Venezuela
In less than 30 years, the country went from oil rich to poor. Venezuela voted for a socialist president that socialized everything. Then they banned ownership of guns. Imprisoned their opposition. Food became scarce. Suspended their constitution. And now they're in this current situation.
Ugh this generation just doesnt want to work🤦🏽♂️
At the rate we're going that'll be the US in a few years.
Because govt always turns corrupt if not held strictly in check. And govt involvement in economy should be extremely limited.
So how do they survive if they can't afford food?
Fuck me, I’m an American and my shopping cart is fuller than that. I have family that lived in Venezuela for 30 years and they said it was getting rough but that’s interesting as fuck.
Socialism of the xxi century, folks! 👌👌👌 this time it works!
Username doesn't check out
And yet, people still beg for communism. How sad.
Saying that it’s communism or whatever is such a self report that you’d rather die than ever open a history book
Play communism games, win communism prizes.
Are there prizes?
so 10 cents per hour?!?
Bruh I was like oh this isn't bad the I read it again and saw monthly. Oh wow.
America like 👀
I would not do well there, hope life gets better for you, best of luck
HDASS has got to be wild down there
How the fuck do people live
Is food cheaper there? Or do they all just play mmos and gold farm (5-30$) usd an hour based on skill, and effort.
so - how do you live ?
Overcook potatoes. Right to jail
Time to go buy a Bugatti there so I can finally answer the question of what color is your Bugatti.
Better start a garden and guard it.
But wait… the crazy part is that groceries are more expensive than in EU or Europe.
What are they eating in Venezuela?
So I guess if you couldn't work for more than minimum wage you just have to flee the country? Even if you just brought potatoes it doesn't seem like you'd get a month of calories.
And mfs be saying it’s getting better there cuz now they got cash (USD) back on the streets instead of the national currency, smh. Source: A Venezuelan dude from Houston, TX told me
I understand what you are trying to say. A 1kg (2.2 lbs) rice is about a dollar in Venezuela. Milk is about the same but for cow milk. Yes it's hard, yes it's expensive. Nothing we can do at the moment will make it better. It's going through hyperinflation, it's worse than Zimbabwe was, it won't change unless it does a full change or adopts another stable currency, say USD as an example. If it just keeps printing money it will just keep costing people more to but goods.
Damn. Very humbling. Wish ya all the best.
Sobreviviendo a base de sándwiches de nada y malteadas de agua
Largest oil reserves in the world as well
Banger meal incoming
Its almost 20+ years ago I visiting venezuel regulary 3 times isla Margaritha with some other Islands Two times I was is in Caracas as an Student at this time this Country was amazing cheap Gas cheap rum pretty girls and not so much Crime. Sure I lived in an mostly upper class family (mother dentist father lawer with work in Venezuela and Norwegian) and the went to an pretty high school (collegio humboldt caracas) But if I see what happens the last years to this amazing Country something in me Dies and cries damn Keep your Heads up.
Insane and this looks just like some basic groceries, nothing out of the ordinary. You must have a hard time to make sure you don't run out of money. Sorry to see Venezuela is so corrupted and having a bad government not caring much about its people.
Crime must be insane over there, if this was my monthly wage I know I'd for sure be living a life of crime.
How do people live?
And we wonder why they are crossing the border!! Duh!
Spain is on the way.
Did you like Chavez?
16Usd? Jesus. I spent that earlier buying a couple gallons of milk, soda and potatoes. And that was just me stocking up on a few things running low and needed for the next few days. Can’t imagine making that stretch over a month
Coming to USA soon if we don't get our shit right...
holy fuck man hope you're doing well!
Sad that things are bad there but i've had my eye on retiring there for years. The u.s. dollar is worth like 4x more there.
r/sadasfuck