The charismatic Chavez eliminated the market economy and then died of cancer as oil prices peaked. The state run institutions failed, being deeply corrupt and then oil prices dropped. The government was a bad risk and the imports stopped coming in. The US sanctions geared to expedite the downfall of the government just make the poverty worse. If you had 1 million dollars of the currency during the oil boom, it is worth about 2 dollars today. Can you imagine that? The first thing they do when they get paid is to unload that cash on anything they can. There is little to spend it on. Plenty of gas however. Preferred payment is with eggs or bread. Anyway I sure hope the violence doesn’t get out of hand or result in a war.
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