Cristina Marquez (pseudonym), 65 years old, lives with her three grandchildren in Mosquey, municipality of Boconó, in the Andean state of Trujillo. He shows ABC his thin market bag, where he carried some ingredients to prepare a dozen hallacas, the typical Christmas dish. … Venezuelan wrapped in banana leaves – to celebrate the Christmas holidays.
This time the budget was not enough to buy the olives, raisins and capers. “Everything has gone up, beef and pork are very expensive, so I only bought chicken. And my kids only sent me $200 for December to cover all expenses. And that’s not enough with current inflation,” says Márquez.
His table will be half empty because of the meager hallacas and the absence of his children who emigrated to Ecuador. To share New Year’s Eve dinner, he invited his neighbor Carmela, with whom he talks about the progress of the military deployment in the Caribbean by the government of Donald Trump and the way in which Nicolas Maduro’s regime is facing the crisis. But “what worries us most is the deterioration of the economy, the return of the hyperinflation of 2018 when it reached 130,000%, and the shortage of gasoline”.
The oil blockade dictated by Trump is starting to have harmful consequences on Venezuelans in the province. On domestic roads you have to queue for several hours to get fuel. During this Christmas period, few Caracas residents traveled inland, for fear of finding themselves stranded without gasoline.
On the streets of Boconó, known for its gourmet coffee and being the garden of Venezuela, many enter the stores and leave empty-handed. Ricardo, 45, a noisy trader who did not want to give his name to ABC, explains the crisis this way: “A month ago, I closed my fruit and vegetable business because very little is sold, Venezuelans have no purchasing power and the government is suffocating us with taxes.”
The company union warned that 55% of the cost structure goes to taxes, 25% to workers’ salaries and the rest to transport and other expenses.
Trump and Maduro
“This Christmas is going to be sad and lonely. In Caracas, you don’t feel the depression inside like here. The tables are empty and what is said in low voices is the political question. “Between Trump and Maduro, they are making us crazy and paralyzed,” he says.
Ricardo It is an opposition trader who warns: “if there is no regime change soon and Maduro continues, I will emigrate to Italy. I already have my suitcase and my papers ready to leave. I can no longer wait for something to happen, we don’t know when or how.”
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