Venezuela de Verdad

8219_653234363175_223408001_10755405_3166425_n, originalmente cargada por venezuelandiaries.

The title of this blog is taken from the billboard in the photo. I took this last year just before I left Venezuela after 10 months living and working in Caracas, and it reads "The real Venezuela".

There are just three weeks to go until I am back in Venezuela. It will have been just under one year since I was last there.

Since I left Venezuela I've obviously talked to lots of people about what it was like to live there.

I find people's ideas on Venezuela vary. Some imagine it as a Caribbean paradise of white beaches and endlessly flowing rum. Others are more interested in Chavez's socialist revolution, and are impressed by his willingness to give a metaphorical two fingers to western governments and his rhetoric on socialism and the vast support that he has from the Venezuelan people.

And from what I saw while I was there, both of these images are correct to an extent. Venezuelans, especially in the north where I was living, do spend a lot of time on beaches which are some of the most stunning I've ever seen, drinking endlessly flowing rum (undoubtedly part of the reason I want to go back!). And there is a lot of support for Chavez's revolution. But is that the whole story?

I also saw a country where people in the cities live in constant fear of being robbed or kidnapped. I heard endless stories of robbings, kidnappings and murder with complete impunity for those who carry them out. I saw pharmacies without basic medicines and hospitals with stray dogs running through them. I spoke to people who told me they have been blacklisted by the government so that they won't ever be able to work in a public office because they had signed a petition against the government. I saw the price of tomatoes at my local market increase 350% in ten months and supermarkets without milk, coffee or toilet roll.

And just before I left, one of my students, who was also a friend, said to me "Please tell people what it is like here. Please make sure they understand." I felt the burden of his request, and apart from talking to those people that I came into contact with I've done little else. So this time, I am going to write about what I see, and try and find out what is the true Venezuela, as lived by Venezuelans today.


What is Venezuela de verdad?

Nb. Obviously I will be writing about Venezuela de verdad, as experienced by a white, middle-class English girl, and do not speak for any other Venezuelan!!!