The Lights Have Gone Out in Caracas
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The young family bought their dream home six years ago, a five-bedroom triplex with marble floors in a luxurious building with a swimming pool in this city’s fashionable La Castellana district.
They paid $1.5 million, including renovations, for the penthouse apartment, according to the real-estate company that handled the deal, and got a 360-degree view over Caracas, for decades one of Latin America’s most expensive urban gems.
No more. This city is unraveling fast: Water doesn’t reach most homes, mass transit is grinding to a halt and businesses are closing in the face of hyperinflation expected to top 13,000% this year. Shotgun-toting troops wearing camouflage and balaclavas run checkpoints. Cash is so scarce people can’t pay for the smallest necessities like bus fare.
Last year, the family fled their apartment in La Castellana, sold it for a third of what they paid and moved to the U.S. Since then the exodus from this city has only accelerated, as Venezuelans escape an increasingly authoritarian government and an economy that has contracted by 40% in five years.
Few here see much hope for change as President Nicolás Maduro seeks reelection in a vote on Sunday, May 20, that the U.S. and other governments say will be rigged.
“There are an enormous number of properties [for sale] because everyone wants to leave,” said Aura Corzo, who was a real-estate agent here until fleeing to Colombia recently. “They’re desperate to go.”
Just 15 years ago, Caracas was one of Latin America’s most modern capitals, home to the region’s tallest skyscrapers, a sleek subway system and a university campus described by UNESCO as a “masterpiece of modern city planning.” Its museums displayed works by Pablo Picasso and Luciano Pavarotti performed at the renowned Teresa Carreño theater. Some Venezuelans dined here at world-class restaurants, sipped imported whiskey and flew to Paris on the Concorde to shop.
Now, the city’s lights are going off.
Most international flights have been canceled, leaving the airport’s runways nearly empty. The Teresa Carreño, now a theater in decay, is used for Socialist Party rallies. And the once bustling nightlife has gone quiet in a city with roving bands of kidnappers and one of the world’s highest murder rates.
In today’s Caracas, malnourished families rummage through garbage for food, and young men wade into a toxic open sewer searching for scraps of metal to sell. State employees, unable to get to their offices because of a dilapidated transportation system, are increasingly abandoning work; their salaries have been rendered all but worthless by inflation anyway.
Back in the USA ... Thank you, Bernie!
socialism, the destroyer of countries.
well, they wanted everyone to have equal results... and they got it.
ANd Maduro won again, by a landslide! Wow, I'm sure it was a totally fair and honest election.......as venezuela circles the bowl.........
And, nobody has reported that 75% of the population didn't vote and the troops are abandoning the streets to travel to Brazil, Columbia, and other countries in droves.
My mother-in-law is a teacher in a middle school in Caracas and she sez that the school is now only open two days a week - with half the students showing for class.
We send her care packages 'bout every 3 months and, surprisingly, they get to her. The packages contain the simple, basic stuff - toilet paper, aspirin, tea, sugar, medicines, flour and Pan.
My brother-in-law immigrated to Australia 7 years ago and he and his wife are trying to get Nelly legally immigrated to Australia.
I hope that your mother-in-law can get out of there soon.
I'd like to echo that sentiment.
There will be articles like this about cities in California in a decade or two.
Yeah there was a power outage in my town yesterday, what a pain in the behind.
Mocking people who don't have even basic necessities like clean water, food, and toilet paper while you sit in the comfort of your home is very telling.
I totally agree and you should tell that to anyone who is mocking these people. Maybe they will learn from your words.
Another socialist paradise created!
And I see none of the resident socialists are commenting.
I'm not surprised.
Not much in the way of facts to refute to hang their hats on.