Vista de Venezuela: Crumbs, Miracles, and Winding Down

In my Politics class, we learned exactly how Venezuela does their politics. The majority of people in Venezuela are poor. Merida is an exception. When presidential candidates begin their campaigns, they will always target the poor, because they are the majority. This is what has led to socialism. When they go on their campaigns, they will bring with them things that the poor need but cannot afford, like food, or school supplies for children. But not only this, they will also always leave with a promise of more. With a promise that if elected, they will make it so that everyone gets the things that they need. This gives the people hope, of the ability to have a better life, and they are uneducated, so they don't know any better. And so, when election time comes around, the people vote for the candidate that gives them hope. Or the president who's going to give them the things they need and want without them having to work for it. Once the poor people's president is elected, he then goes to work on his number one goal: to keep the poor impoverished, while still maintaining the image that he's helping them. Why? Because if the lives of the poor actually are made better, they will lose the ignorant hope in their leader to solve their problems. For example, there are many clinics and pharmacies in Venezuela, thanks to socialism. Pharmacies for your medicinal needs, and clinics for your everyday injuries and illnesses, such as colds, broken arms, and stitches for deep cuts. If you go to a pharmacy or a clinic, they will attend to you immediately. In a clinic, all services are free. Pharmacy depends on the medication, but consultations with pharmacists are also free. However, if your injuries or illnesses are more severe as to need extensive medical attention, you need to go to a hospital. There are frighteningly few of those. And once you get to the hospital, they are almost always full up because of the few number of them. So you have to wait in line for a bed to be open. You must keep looking vigilantly, because as soon as someone gets up, you must race for their bed and compete with other people, without worrying if the bed has been sanitized. In this way, by building clinics to help the small things, but keeping the pickings slim when it comes to getting real help, the poor are kept in a miserable state. Also, Venezuelan doctors are in the minority. Cubans and other foreign doctors are hired more frequently because they work for less money.

Venezuela has one export: oil. They are immensely rich in oil. They give it away as gifts. The people of Cuba do not have to pay for oil for the next 20 years. But because they only have one export, they import everything else. Everything. Even though they are capable of producing food and other things within the country, they are not allowed to do so, because of the government regulation on private businesses. This is also why the government regulates the control on US dollars. The government needs the dollars to buy all of the imports, because bolivares are worthless outside of the country. No one will take them. By not allowing the Venezuelan people to compete, they are kept at a stagnant way of life. Unable to improve. These things like the clinics and the food and the promises are all what my politics teacher calls "crumbs". Crumbs given from a huge cake that the government keeps for itself. To keep control.

But a miracle of miracles happened. My camera is now back to full functioning order! Everything that didn't work before now suddenly works! I was stoked. Also, I bought a cuatro. Which is a Venezuelan guitar that's slightly smaller than a regular guitar. I have yet to think of a name.

Last night I played in a flute recital. This past week, the flute teacher from Caracas finally made it to Merida, and I had a couple lessons with him. After the recital was over, me and my Venezuelan friends went out to dinner. It was Mexican but not the same Mexican as at home. Here are some pictures from that.