Kidnapping in Venezuela is out of control
The film Secuestro Express was about a Venezuelan kidnapping gang
The guardian.co.uk published a recent article by Roy Carrol titled, “Fear grips Venezuela as even the poor are seized by kidnap gangs.” The article says that “pensioners, students and children are grabbed in streets and shopping malls.”
This kidnapping plague seems to be spreading all through Latin America. In Mexico of course it has been out of control for a long time. In Colombia it’s practically a way of life. In Panama, supposedly a stable and economically prosperous country by Central American standards, these sorts of kidnappings have just started to appear.
Often (though not always by any means) police are involved and are even running the show. This boggles my mind. The idea of dirty cops is not new to me and I know that a lot of cops all over the world are not averse to pocketing a little money, but running a kidnap gang? How does someone become so corrupt.
Anyway, I was dismayed to read that even poor people are being targeted by Venezuela’s kidnappers. The article says:
A wave of kidnappings across Venezuela is spreading fear and anger among communities who say that criminal gangs are out of control.
Hundreds of men, women and children have been swept off the streets in broad daylight and held for ransom, forcing their families to sell homes and other assets to buy their freedom.
The national assembly debated a bill last week that would make sentences of up to 30 years mandatory for kidnapping, as part of a long-promised government crackdown. Official figures released last week recorded 166 abductions so far this year, more than one a day. Most of the kidnappings go unreported and the real figure is estimated to be up to four times higher.
“It’s horrific. We have had four students abducted from the campus,” said Briceida Morales, a lecturer at Santa María University in Barinas, the worst hit state. “People are snatched from shopping malls. Women, children, pensioners, it doesn’t matter if you’re wealthy or not, they take anyone.”
In one incident, three men seized a three-year-old girl from her mother at a bus stop in a Barinas slum. The mother gave up the family’s most valuable possession, a fridge, to pay the ransom…
The virus infected neighbouring Venezuela about a decade ago when armed groups started seizing victims – especially farmers – in remote border areas.
“Even if they don’t kill you, you’ve got nothing left. Your home, your livelihood, everything you’ve built, gone,” said César García, 58, a rancher held for four months until his family paid a ransom.
The gangs realised that even poor families could drum up thousands of dollars by selling household possessions. “Insecurity has got worse and there is a sense of impunity,” said Jhonny Campos, a police commissioner in Caracas.
The topic inspired a former justice minister, Fermín Mármol León, to publish a thriller detailing four kidnappings. One family with showbusiness links ran a comedy night to raise a ransom. The relative was freed last month.
Some of the gangs use unlicensed taxi operators at the arrivals terminal of Caracas airport. European diplomats and American journalists have been among those who have had guns pulled on them.
So-called “express kidnappings” can end within days, or even hours, if the ransom can be drawn from cashpoints. A 2005 hit film, Secuestro Express, depicted a young couple’s terrifying night in a gang’s clutches in a seedy Caracas underworld. “Kidnappings are so common in Caracas I first thought they weren’t movie material,” said the writer and director, Jonathan Jakubowicz. “Every year Venezuela gets more violent. What has risen the most is kidnappings done by cops.”
Of 12 kidnap gangs identified by a special police unit, the CICPC, nine are linked to Colombian armed groups and three are home-grown, including one comprised of police officers. Local crime reporters say the proportion of home-grown groups is higher. They have nicknames such as “Los Invisibles” and “Los Rapiditos”.
The government hopes that freezing the assets of victims’ families, as well as tougher sentences, will curb the epidemic. Amid a rash of new abductions police celebrated one victory: two brothers, aged 14 and 16, were freed in Caracas after detectives intercepted a gang member collecting a bag he thought contained a £96,000 ransom. On his way there the kidnapper, Carlos Guerrero, texted his mother: “Mum I’m on my way to work, send me a blessing.”
Personally I feel that most criminal justice systems are seriously out of whack. Is it so insane to demand the death penalty for violent crimes like kidnapping, while advocating alternative sentencing and treatment for non-violent offenses like drug use or petty theft?
One of the basic jobs of any government is to ensure a certain minimum quality of life for its citizens, and that includes personal safety. The rise in violent crime, including kidnapping, has got to be stopped. I don’t know what that will take, but drastic situations call for drastic measures. Latin America as a whole needs to put a spotlight on this issue and come up with some serious solutions.
Setting up a Venezuela forum
I’m working on setting up a Venezuela forum where we can discuss all issues related to Venezuela, including life in Venezuela, Venezuela travel, Venezuela real estate, etc. It’s a little tricky so be patient please.
Dating Venezuelan Girls
Venezuelan girls
I was just browsing today and came across this website called Road Junkie Travel. It’s got blog posts by travelers from many countries, including Venezuela. You can see the Venezuela page here:
http://www.roadjunky.com/article?c=Venezuela
There was a funny post by a guy named Seb Kennedy about dating Venezuelan girls. Apparently there are special challenges in dating a girl who expects drama, cheating, and general bad behavior from her man. He writes:
Put simply, dating Venezuelans is great if you are after a casual fling or a holiday romance. It’s when you enter into a proper relationship when the problems and cultural differences emerge.
Venezuela is an extremely macho country and girls almost expect their men to treat them badly. They expect them to periodically leave them at home and go out drinking all night with their mates, wind up at a brothel, and come home in a mess the next day. Then they will have an insane shouting match where things get thrown about, she ends up in a huff and he goes out on the piss again. Eventually they will make up, and they will be so in love it will make you sick until the next time he goes out to screw hookers.
When a Venezuelan girl doesn’t get this from her foreign boyfriend she will be very surprised and will either ask to marry you on the spot, or spend months trying to figure out why she isn’t being taken for granted. For some girls, haranguing their boyfriends is their second favourite pastime after gossiping, so they may miss the melodrama when they date a man from a country where women expect to be treated as equals.
For a foreign woman dating a Venezuelan man the relationship works in reverse. He will most likely be unfaithful to her, but will still rely on her to perform all manner of domestic duties. She may even find him turning up unannounced at her house with a huge bag of washing and a shirt missing a couple of buttons. Any attempt to engage in a discussion regarding gender equality will fall on deaf ears and will be dismissed as foreign nonsense.
There is a thriving gay scene in Caracas, catered for by a fair selection of gay bars. If you are lucky, you will find one playing host to a karaoke show featuring drag queens and transsexuals grinding away in enormous spangley stilettos to Madonna classics and “Sobrevivire” – “I Will Survive” in Spanish. It may seem unusual to find a lively gay scene in such a macho country, and although the word “marico” (queer) is a common insult among men and even women, the attitude of straight Venezuelans to homosexuality is typically one of slight amusement or bemused indifference, rather than the jeering ridicule you may expect.
Personally I’ve never dated a Latin American woman, but I have North American friends who have, and one of the complaints I’ve heard consistently is the cavalier attitude of the women toward keeping dates and showing up on time. Of course they expect the same thing from the man, so to me it’s miracle that anyone ever actually gets together. Or maybe they get together just long enough to do the deed, which is perhaps why I see so many single young mothers. In some cases the father drops in from time to time to visit. But I’m getting off track.
Another complaint I’ve heard is that once you get something steady going with a girl, her entire family expects you to underwrite their expenses and fund their business ventures. It seems that you do actually have to lay something out – otherwise what would be the benefit to the girl of dating you? – but you also have to know where to draw the line between being generous and being a sucker.
Have you dated a Venezuelan girl? What was the experience like for you? Share your comments.
A New Life for At-Risk Kids in Venezuela, and Music Too!
By Humberto Márquez
Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor
Source: IPSNews.net
CARACAS, Aug 24 (IPS) – On tour in Germany after performing to rave reviews at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London, the members of Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra and its wild-haired conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, have made a remarkable journey from their less than promising social origins.
They received a standing ovation at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, on Aug.19. “In 30 years of attending every season of the Proms, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said John Douglas, professor of music at Oxford University.
Behind their success is “the system,” shorthand for the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela (FESNOJIV), a network of 125 youth and children’s orchestras founded 28 years ago by José Antonio Abreu, which has put instruments and music scores in the hands of 400,000 children and young people.
Abreu, 68, an economist, organist, conductor and minister of culture from 1989 to 1993, started to give underprivileged kids a new beginning when he gathered 11 young people together for a rehearsal in an underground carpark. The next day there were 25, then 46, and then 75.
The children’s orchestras then began to spring up all over the country. Abreu sees them as a way of rescuing children and young people in at-risk social, health or school situations because of poverty. Eight Venezuelan administrations have financed the “system”, which has a budget of about 30 million dollars a year.
“For most of the children we work with, music is a pathway to social dignity. Poverty means loneliness, sadness and anonymity. An orchestra means joy, motivation, teamwork. This is a human development project, which is also the aim of the Venezuelan state,” said Abreu in a recent interview with IPS.
Xavier Moreno, a former executive secretary of FESOJIV, has said: “Our main goal is not to create professional musicians. Our goal is to rescue the children.”
Venezuela's Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra
They succeeded in the case of Lerner Acosta, who was arrested nine times for theft and drug possession before “the system” offered him a clarinet.
“At first I thought it was a joke. Nobody would trust someone like me not to steal an instrument like that, but it was for real,” Acosta said. Now he plays the clarinet in the Caracas Youth Orchestra, and teaches at the Simón Bolívar Conservatory.
Edicson Ruiz worked part-time as a bag boy in a supermarket to eke out his mother’s meagre salary until he was nine. He still remembers being given a viola and a seat in the middle of the orchestra. At 17, he became the youngest ever double bass player in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Two feature-length documentaries have been made about the experiences of kids from “the system.” “Tocar y luchar” (Playing and Fighting), which offers the stories of six boys, is by Alberto Arvelo, who was himself a musician in one of these orchestras between the ages of nine and 17. “Maroa,” by Solveig Hoogesteijn, is about a young girl rescued from a life of crime through music.
Now in Germany, the Simon Bolívar Orchestra is waiting for Argentine-Israeli pianist Daniel Barenboim, the soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, to be performed in the Berlin Staatskapelle on Sept. 16 and 17, conducted by Dudamel, 26, who was once his student.
Dudamel, too, is a product of “the system,” although his family was better off than most. He studied music from an early age, taking up the violin at 10, and when he was 14 he began to study conducting with Abreu and other teachers. By 1999 he was already conducting the Simón Bolívar Children’s Orchestra, and by 2000, the Youth Orchestra.
Since 1999 he has won admiration in Chile, Mexico, the United States, France, Italy and Germany. In 2004 he won the Gustav Mahler conducting competition in Bamberg, Germany.
Last year he won the Pegasus prize at the Festival of the Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, and was named principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, which he conducted in the 2006 Proms. Dudamel has now been named to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in the United States.
In September he will continue to accompany the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra to the German cities of Essen, Lubeck, Leipzig, Dresden, Bonn, Frankfurt and Berlin, where he will be joined by Barenboim.
“The ‘system’ has been a real source of inspiration. Our musicians love music passionately, and enjoy it. That’s why they make the audience enjoy it, too,” said the young conductor. (END/2007)
Fantastic photo of the youth symphony orchestra!
Blue Marlin Fishing in Venezuela: Best in the World?
Blue marlin fishing in Venezuela
Check out this story in Marlinmag.com. The author has traveled to Venezuela many times over the years to go deep sea fishing, but had not gone in several years. He was not sure what to expect on his latest trip, and his friends and family thought he was crazy for going. (I don’t quite get that. Just because Venezuela is a political opponent of the United States does that mean that it’s some kind of xenophobic anti-American danger zone?). Anyway, he was pleasantly surprised right from the start as he entered Caracas’ gleaming new international airport, was warmly greeted, and experienced some of the best blue marlin fishing in his life.
Here’s the full link:
http://www.marlinmag.com/travel/south-america/dont-give-up-on-venezuela-52985-page-1.html
Recipe for Arepas (Venezuelan Flatbreads)
Venezuelan arepas with beef, beans and cheese
In a recent post I mentioned a common Venezuelan treat, arepas. Arepas are traditional Venezuelan flatbread sandwiches made with maize flour and cheese. Often meat is added. Variations such as avocado or sour cream are quite tasty as well. Here is a typical arepas recipe:
Arepas (Venezuelan Flatbreads)
Ingredients:
- 300 grams maize flour (preferably the type intended for arepas)
- 1 tsp salt
- 100g white cheese, grated
- 500 ml cold water (or more, if needed)
Method:
Arepas with cheese
Combine the flour, salt and cheese in a large bowl then add just enough of the cold water to make a firm (but slightly moist) dough. Cover the bowl and set aside for the dough to rest for 5 minutes).
Divide the dough into 10 pieces and roll these into balls. Flatted each ball slightly then lightly oil a griddle pan and place over medium heat. Once hot cook the arepas on this for about 5 minutes per side, or until a light golden brown curst forms. Transfer the part-cooked arepas to a baking tray and place in an oven pre-heated to 180 );C. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning them every five minutes or so, until they are cooked through. Serve immediately.
Traditionally these flatbreads are served with a black bean stew.
Weather in Venezuela
Venezuela temperature and humidity chart
Visitors often want to know what the weather will be like in Venezuela, so they know what to pack and what to expect as far as comfort.
Venezuela is tropical and equatorial, so it is warm and humid, and there are really only two seasons, wet (or “green” as the tourist industry likes to call it) and dry. Venezuelans refer to the wet season as winter, and the dry season as summer, but these terms could be misleading for a North American or European as temperatures do not change much. Because Venezuela is equatorial, the temperature stays within the same range year-round and changs only with elevation. The real difference between wet and dry seasons is, as the names imply, the amount of rainfall and the humidity level.
“Summer” (the dry season) runs from December to May. This is when the weather is at its driest and humidity is lower, and may be the most comfortable time for most people to visit Venezuela. December and January are especially cool and pleasant.
April-September is very warm, and it’s usually rainy May-December.
Of course Venezuela is a vast country with many types of terrain and geographies, so the weather varies dramatically from place to place.
In Merida, the weather is best October-June. The Orinoco River area can be more humid and a bit warmer, and the mountain areas will generally be at least 10 degrees F/5 C cooler (and much colder at high elevations). No matter when you go, be sure to take a sweater – the evenings are cool most of the year.
Regional Variations in Depth
The following information comes from the BBC weather center:
In Venezuela the main chain of the Andes mountains runs from west to east, thus leaving a narrow coastal plain on the Caribbean shore. In the west there is a more extensive marshy lowland around Lake Maracaibo. To the south of the Andes there is a large lowland area in the valley of the river Orinoco, known as the Llanos; this has a typical tropical climate with a single rainy season. In the southeast of the country the land rises to a plateau, extending into Guyana, with an average height of some 600 m/2,000 ft; from this plateau numerous hills rise to more than 1,800 m/6,000 ft.
Venezuela is unusual among South American countries in that almost everywhere the main rainy season is from April to October at the time of high sun. Towards the west of the country there is a tendency for a double rainy season, as in Colombia. The northern lowland, particularly in the west, has a surprisingly dry climate for a tropical coast. This is thought to be a consequence of the direction of the coastline in relation to the frequent northeast trade winds.
The Andes in Venezuela are lower and narrower than in Colombia, Peru, andBolivia, but there are a number of individual peaks rising above 4,600m/15,000ft which carry snow throughout the year. There are many local variations of weather and climate as a result of altitude; the threefold division into tierra caliente, tierra templada, and tierra fria, described for Bolivia, applies to this region.
The northern slopes of the Andes tend to have less rainfall than the southern side. Caracas, at an altitude of 1,040m/3,400 ft, has a climate typical of thetierra templada, but shows traces of the relative dryness that affects the whole north coast.
Over most of this area sunshine amounts are moderately high as a consequence of the lack of cloud and rain; ranging from six hours a day in the wetter months to as much as eight hours in the drier months. Annual rainfall in the mountains is usually over 1,000mm/40in but is less in some sheltered valleys and on the northern slopes. On the coast the rainfall increases from the very low annual totals around Lake Maracaibo to as much as 1,000 mm/40 in in the east. The lowlands around Lake Maracaibo are particularly hot in all months.
In the Llanos region of the Orinoco valley there is a typical hot, tropical climate with a single wetter season between April and October. Over most of this region annual rainfall is 1,000-1,500 mm/40-60 in. Temperature varies little from month to month and there is never any really cool weather. The wet months are the most uncomfortable because of the combination of heat and high humidity.
In the southeast on the Guyana plateau rainfall is rather heavier, generally above 1,500mm/60in per year, but with a definite dry season at the time of low sun. Temperatures are moderated by the higher altitude and humidity is rather lower than in the Llanos.
Writer Wanted for Venezuela Report
Are you a writer?
This website, VenezuelaReport.com, is looking for a writer to contribute articles about life in Venezuela and to essentially manage the website. We are not looking so much for political articles, but articles about Venezuela travel and daily life in Venezuela. So for example you could write about the best places to visit and see, places to stay, restaurants and food, the cost of living, shopping, meeting people, dating, cultural differences, etc. Anything that would be of interest to someone planning a trip to Venezuela, moving to Venezuela, or expats living in Venezuela. Ideally we’re looking for an English-speaking expat living in Venezuela, but a native Venezuelan is welcome too.
You must have excellent spelling and grammar, good sentence structure, and an ability to write descriptively. We would expect at least one new article per week. Compensation will be discussed. If you are interested please contact us through the contact form.
Venezuela: Beautiful Sights, Rude People?
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Angel falls in Venezuela
In a recent discussion on the Thorn Tree travel forum, a traveler with the nickname of Lobito says that he has traveled to every South American country with the exception of Guyana and Surinam, and finds that while the geography of Venezuela is stunning, the people are consistently rude.
He continues:
I also have during all my travels never met people who were so ignorant, uneducated and rude not only towards foreigners but to each other. At the same token I have met some very friendly locals who would go out of their way to help me.
Just to give you two examples during my travel in Venezuela.
A woman in a bus wants to breastfeed her baby. A man in front her reclines his seat to the degree that there is no space left for the baby. The woman asks the man to lift up his seat a bit. The man says: No, I want to take a nap.” That’s it; for the next 2 hours he remained in this position – I hope he slept well. We could not believe it. A teenaged boy sitting next to me also expressed his disgust and I was happy that he realized what was going on here. This is what I call “rude’ and it has nothing to do with cultural level etc. Actually it may occur elsewhere but in Venezuela it happened far too often.
Next I enter a bus and there is only one seat left. A man has his shopping bag on it and part of his body spread out while his arm is dangling out of the window. The driver asks the man to make space. He refuses. He is then asked to remove his bag; he slowly complies but does not move his body one inch. I had to sit next to this guy uncomfortably for one hour until he left.
I observed dozens of similar incidences; I must say this has never occured to me anywhere in South America. I have talked to other Venezuelans about this and some agreed that there is a problem. The only explanation I have is lack of education and ignorance.
Just go to a beach in Venezuela and see the litter left behind by the locals; they don’t even realize there is a problem. At the same time you see modern highways with crews cleaning up the litter thrown out from cars, modern shopping centers absolutely spotless next to houses where the garbage piles up on the walls.
I agree that there are countries in SA with lower levels of literacy and with more poverty. As travellers we all accept this.
In Colombia I had once a conversation with a very poor man who was working in a mine: he knew more about Spanish history than I did. Something like this impresses me.
After all the negative comments Venezuela offers a few destinations such as the Angel’s Falls which are worth the trouble.
I arrived in Caracas early afternoon, passed immigration quickly and changed money at the airport downstairs at one of the car rentals. The black market rate was BF 3.0 for 1 US$ – the best I could get at the beginning of August (supposedly it is BF 4.0 now). I noticed right away that food prices are high: a hamburger for BF 22, meals BF 30 and up.
I then walked over to the domestic terminal to get a flight to Puerto Ordaz (100 km from Ciudad Bolivar). Waiting in line at ASERCA a supervisor came out and a woman and I asked him about seat availability; he said “none today” and turned to chat with his friends totally ignoring us. The woman walked away but I waited another 10 minutes and managed to buy a ticket for BS 338 which I found to be rather expensive. The 4 p.m. flight was delayed by 90 minutes due to problems with the brakes as we could see; nobody told us anything. Upon arrival in Puerto Ordaz I decided to look for a hotel because it was now dark. The taxi-driver suggested several places in the $ 150 – 200 range (this is an oil-rich area with business travellers) but I had a list for posadas and got the last room in one of them for $ 85 which was listed for $ 25 in my guide.
Next day I went to Ciudad Bolivar by bus and it was extremely hot (all year round). I also found that the three days Angel’s Falls tour costs now BF 1,500 (US$ 500 for me or nearly $ 700 if charged to a credit card). I must say the trip was worth the trouble (not necessarily the money). Beware that after 6:30 p.m. Ciudad Bolivar is almost totally deserted.
After the tour my next destination was Cumana at the Caribbean coast (buses as usual deep freezers; take your winter closing while the temperature outside is 35 degrees Celsius). Shortly after dark the first power outage hit us and the town was locked down. Power came back shortly before midnight and the water started flowing again for a well deserved shower. I then spent several days in Santa Fe to explore Mochaima Park. I must say I have never seen so much garbage and trash floating in the water than at Venezuelan beaches. It was totally disgusting to be in such a beautiful place and the locals could not care less.
Prices were a bit more acceptable and the sea food was very good. After 3 days I got tired of the power outages and lack of water and moved on to Puerto la Cruz before boarding a Maracaibo bus to Valencia 8 hours away. Half way to Caracas the bus had a total hydraulic failure and stopped in the middle of the two-lane highway. The traffic chaos was imminent and it was getting dark. Nobody knew what was going on, the police arrived, someone tried to fix something but the only one who had a light was I. And suddenly the driver and the police took off (probably to the next bar) and left 60 passengers behind. Finally at 11 p.m. a new bus arrived and we finally got to Valencia at 3 a.m. – something I wanted to avoid. The city had 160 murders in July and a taxi-driver got killed out of nowhere just the day before as I could read in the newspaper the next morning. Out of desperation I was willing to spend any amount of money just to get some safety. The taxi-driver took me to a 4 star hotel which was full. Next a 5 star hotel who were not interested in letting me in, several more locked up places and finally a hotel for $ 60 in a tiny room with at least functioning bathroom.
The next day I paid BF 30 for the ride to the terminal to board a bus to Chichiviriche. A Spanish couple suggested to forgo Choroni because it was overcrowded by local vacationers, expensive and noisy; they also were robbed in the area and the woman lost her passport. But Morrocoy National Park was not much better with hundreds of ignorant people pulling their ice-chests filled with 6 packs and dumping their trash everywhere they went. The beaches were littered with garbage and bottles were floating in the warm beautiful blue waters of the islands. What a pain!
2 days of nightly power outages (which at least stopped the permanent loud music until someone hooked up his system to a generator and kept us awake until 3 a.m.) were enough for me. I moved on to Marracay where I spent a boring week-end. I wanted to visit the Rancho Grande research place in the mountains but the bus driver the terminal did not want to let me off and suggested a taxi. I said “thank you”.
The last day I took the bus to the La Bandera terminal in Caracas and for BF 100 (not negotiable) got an official taxi-driver who drove me safely to the airport. Three hours later I arrived in Miami, went to the Best Western Airport hotel where for less than $ 100 I had a clean large room with everything in it (refrigerator, microwave, etc) and the best breakfast (included) I had for a long time. And I thought Miami was a place to avoid.
In summary it was an interesting trip. I would have visited Merida if I had had more than the 14 days but I am not sure if I am returning soon. In the whole I spent over $ 1,500 with moderate accomodation and a few restaurant visits.
I did not talk about politics because that is a different topic.
However, a woman by the name of AnaSauvalle responded with the following:
I think it all depends on the individual experience. I’ve travelled all over South America and Venezuela was unquestionably my favourite. All the people we met were so friendly, we met hardly any tourists, were welcomed by locals who were happy to discuss the country, its politics, way of life etc. Nor did we spend much money. I agree there is virtually no infrastructure for tourists – for us that was just what we wanted.
On the other hand, I went to Peru, absolutely hated it, found the locals really rude, everyone trying to rip you off, the country so expensive to name a few points, yet when I wrote an account the same way you have I was inundated with as many responses from people who agreed with me as those who didn’t.
Sometimes it’s just a question of luck……..
To anyone who is wondering whether or not to go my advice is do it.
Cost of Living in Venezuela
Arepa with beef and avocado, a classic Venezuelan meal
I came across a discussion on expat-blog.com about the cost of living in Venezuela. One of the members, a native Venezuelan named Jeolla from Caracas, put together some interesting observations and numbers:
“Hi, I am Venezuelan and live in the capital Caracas. Let me start off by saying the 2008 ranking of most expensive countries to live as number 15. So out of 200 countries, Venezuela made the top 15.
If you wish to live in a big Venezuelan city you will need to make at least $40,000USD to live at the bottom end of the middle class scale in the US. A 3-bedroom 2-bathroom Condo in a medium class neighbourhood with a moderate level of safety (no area is that safe) will run you about BS.F380,000 or about $150,000. This is alot of money considering the average salary is Bs.F1000.00 monthly.
A car – if bought new – with power steering / windows / doors / ac / automatic will cost at the low end Bs.F75,000 or about $30,000 US. The car mentioned is a GM Cobalt – and I just bought one.
Televison / Internet / Telephone. The TV will run you Bs.F110 or $55.00, good internet will run you Bs.F150 or $70.00 and the telphone can run Bs.F200 or about $100.00. The television package gives you a good variety of channels, most spanish however a great selection of English. The internet will the you 2mb download speed and is unlimited. The Telephone is a landline and not a cellphone and will give you unlimited incomming calls. Every call outbound you make locally costs about BsF 0.05 per minute, long distance within Venezuela is BsF0.80 per minute and calling to the us is about BsF1 per minute.
Eating out is expensive if you want to eat at a CLEAN location. An Arepa with reina pepillada (a chicken avocado filling) will run you Bs.F18 or $9.00us and this does not include a drink! The government has announced they are going to start regulating costs… they will do this and this means the quality will drop.
Recently went to Subway and ordered 2 footlong subs 4 drinks and 4 cookies to share amongs 4 people and the bill came to Bs.F125.00 or $60.00 US. So I would say this is more expensive than in Canada or USA.
Here are some prices in Caracas:
So I am trying to paint the picture… Caracas is expensive and so are most places in Venezuela. Even smaller villages are raising in prices. On account of the currency control many products if not expired are hard to come by.
I am not a supporter of Chavez nor am I against him. I don’t like any of the politicians opposition or mainline. The truth is it is hard to live here, crime is rampant, and life can be hard. Make sure you live in a good area or you will get more than you bargained for. I love Venezuela but the truth exists that this is a highly charged polarized political climate and there is no telling what can happen.
Inflation last year was 32% and exonomists are predicting between 30 and 40% this year.
Just so you are informed!”
Ulrich, who lives on Isla Margarita, says:
“Hi, here an attempt to give an answer from the sunny Isla Margarita.
How expensive it is, depends on various parameters: 1. where you get your money from and 2. how you get it into Venezuela. Officially the local currency Bolivar (Bs.F.)has a fixed exchange rate at 2,15 Bs.F. for 1 US$. But there is a parallel market, which is illegal and ‘on the street’ even dangerous – like in many other countries. So it’s up to you.
Just some numbers:
the most stunning is the gasoline, it is for free! You just pay for the refinery and transportation – about 1 US$ for a full tank of 40 liters!!! Yes, 1 liter costs about 1 Bs.F.!
1 beer is +- 0,5 to 1 Bs.F., renting an apartment is almost impossible here due to tourism, but 50.000 US$ easily buy you a house. A bus across the whole city is 1 Bs.F., taxi 15 Bs.F., on food I spend for 3 persons – who love to cook- about 1.500 Bs.F a month (incl. more expensive imported goods). If you have a health problem a doctor with all treatment in public health service is for free and medicine may cost you up to 500 Bs.F. depending on the case. If you have little money, they give it for free as well. Private doctors, which normally work in public service as well, i.e. no difference in quality, may ask whatever they want, but this is soon to be limited by law. There are all kinds of insurances but I don’t know how much they ask, I don’t have any. Public education is free on all levels. Private, which is not necessarily better, may cost up to 300+ Bs.F. a month. Energy costs close to nothing. I pay electricity about 120 Bs.F. a month – for light, fridge, air con, radio, 3 TVs and 2 computers! Internet 93, cable TV 120, phone basic 16, cellphone +- 250 (2500 min. free) a month. A fried fish on the top beach 35 , french goodies up to 80, a hamburger in the street about 10 to 15 ( these prices may not be so accurate, I am vegetarian and do not eat out). The beer I mentioned above, a coffee is about 2 to 3, a big one. Cinema is about 12 Bs.F., but you get new movies as illegal copies in the street for 10 – even before the movie comes to the cinema! Well, this is a first idea. If anybody wants to know more, just send me a mail! The bottom line is: when you get your money from abroad, even a ‘poor’ pensioner is rich. If you have to earn it here it depends on your abilities. Everybody is welcome here, spanish is not difficult and it is easy to earn money. With 1.500 US$ you are a king here.”
