13309375, From the article Posted by j., Fri Jan-25-19 01:29 PM
"Under his (Chavez) rule, Venezuela’s unemployment rate halved, income per capita more than doubled, the poverty rate fell by more than half, education improved, and infant mortality rates declined."
The very next paragraph explains how he was able to do this:
"A massive oil boom in the early 2000s that brought roughly a trillion dollars into the country’s coffers — making Venezuela Latin America’s richest country — helped Chávez remain in power until his death in 2013."
No sustainable investment in the future, in infrastructure, in creating jobs Just good old socialist populism in the form of government hand outs and subsidies Again, when the money ran out (oil price crash) then the good times were over
Was Venezuela a paradise before Chavez? hardly. I was born there. I remember the corruption scandals of the previous ruling parties
The same president Chavez led a coup attempt against in 92 was removed from office for corruption a couple of years later.
That's why he won a landslide in 98: people were tired of the status quo and desperately wanted change (he also claimed in an interview at the time that he wouldn't follow the Cuban model and wasn't a communist)
Also from the article:
"Inflation now hovers above a million percent, and could reach 10 million percent this year. Food and medicine is too expensive for many to purchase. And since 2015, over 3 million Venezuelans have left the country in search of better opportunities elsewhere, primarily in Colombia. (It’s expected that another 2 million will become refugees in 2019 alone.)
Care to address that part?
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